Out of Pod Experience

I am a Certified Athletic Trainer and I have seen the after effects of non-diagnosed HCM. A basketball player at my grad school alma mater died on the court the year prior to my undergraduate internship in their athletic training room.

I do not have the funds available to directly help you out, nor do I have any way to help advertise, but know that I am in a field that is working towards helping athletes make sure that this gets identified before something tragic happens.

It's always so sad to hear when a young kid like that passes away. Something as simple as a required echocardiogram for young athletes could save lifes.

I would love to keep in contact and know more about your work. There are a few places out there like 4HCM and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association on facebook.
My Doctor is one of the leading in HCM at tufts in Boston ,along with his father who is at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation.

I got lucky and my HCM was found when I went into the hospital for pneumonia. The Doctor was smart enough to catch it.
Did you hear about the 16 year old girl in Virginia? She ran a half marathon and her heart just stopped at the finish line.
They never released the exact cause of death but good chance it was HCM.
This was in March on this year.

But thank you for doing what you do two years ago when I was diagnosed, I was hard pressed to find anyone who knew what HCM was and now I am seeing more and more people. Keep up the great work! and thank you.

She was from my home city. I have my suspicions that is was not solely HCM, but that is worthless conjecture. Also I feel that the family will never release the autopsy results.

As for my work in the field. It is currently limited as I am no longer working directly with athletes. I have moved into working with the severely disabled population. Some of which are para athletes, but HCM is not as big an issue in this population. But if I here anything from my colleges I will update.

All the best with the OP.




I like Bacon.

At the collegiate level some school make it standard that all incoming freshman have an ecocardiogram and EKG reading. So yes diagnostics are pretty much standard now after high school. Before the collegiate level it is up to the parents to ask their pediatricians for an evaluation of the heart as part of their physical.

Journal of Athletic Training

Here is the Medical History form for my grad school's athletic training program.

Cardiovascular screening in ncaa athletes: findings from a multicenter ecg-inclusive program.

American Medical Society for Sport Medicine supports use of ECG's in screening processes.

Science Daily

The link for one of my sources borks the code so I will tell type it out.


A Proposal for ECG*s in pre-participation physical examination (PPE) for college athletes - the following page auto downloaded the word file on my comp so there is my warning.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDUQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftracyhillmsnportfolio.weebly.com%2Fuploads%2F1%2F4%2F4%2F6%2F14469608%2Fekgs_as_routine_in_student-athlete_physicals.final.docx&ei=6ag-U4uZK6bgsATjm4CwCQ&usg=AFQjCNHBe3K10xRdIpKBAzUeJmZiNTxE2w

Basically it sounds like it is not cost effective to run ECG's on every athlete, but by using a comprehensive medical history form, you can identify the highest risk individuals and then run those individuals through an ECG. Which makes perfect sense as parents typically have insurance so they can very well have their own child tested significantly earlier than 18 years old. All a parent has to do is tell their family doctor to included a cardiac work up to test for the typical heart abnormalities that cause sudden death. If the doctor is not comfortable doing that then seeing a cardiologist is the best option.

My alliance has done a great job in helping me get the proper funding for this.
I would like to reach out one more time to the community and see if i can get this rolling along.

I have 22 days till surgery and there are tons of things I have yet to prepare for.

Posting to wish you well during your procedure and a speedy recovery!