Posted on behalf of Elaine Liberati

My son, Will, was 16 when he was playing floor hockey in a Summer PE class. He collapsed and it took 11 minutes for paramedics to reach him with a defibrillator. He died on June 8, 2004. We later found out that the athletic department had an AED locked in a training office and had not told anyone about it. Subsequently, the school district widened their training program and bought defibrillators for every campus in the district.

Ann Nunnally

Sudden Death: that is what happened to my only two children. Jimmy was only 22 years of age and Chrissy was only 21. Both died in their sleep suffering from a heart disorder. I knew nothing about it until it was too late to save my children. Jimmy died April 15, 2000, leaving behind a daughter Alexis, who was only two at the time. Only two years later, on July 25, 2002, my daughter died the same way as her brother--she just never woke up. She also left behind a baby girl only 10 months old.

Our family had been misdiagnosed with epilepsy. Instead we had SADS--
Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome--or Long QT syndrome. This is an inherited condition and it strikes mostly young adults. I have Long QT--I just wish I knew this before. It is very treatable.

I choose to reach out and share my story in hopes of saving a life and sparing another parent from such pain.

Please contact me. Just a little awareness could save a life.

Your readers may be interested in the latest ruling in Fowler v. Bally Total
Fitness.  (See www.w-g-law.com/cases.) Gary Fowler was my 46-year-old brother who died of sudden cardiac arrest in November 2005 at a Montgomery County Bally Total Fitness.

In January 2005, the Montgomery County Council passed an ordinance requiring AEDs
in fitness centers. None of the Bally clubs in Montgomery County had AEDs at the
time of my brother's death. Finally, some pretty strong language about a fitness center's duty to have AEDs on hand.

The Court found that the waiver and release did not bar a claim for gross
negligence, stating that, “Plaintiff has more than met her burden of demonstrating
gross negligence on the part of Bally in refusing to maintain or deploy an AED at
its Gaithersburg, Maryland facility....” Even where there was no statutory obligation

Hi,
My daughter, Alayna died a little over five years ago due to SCA brought on by Myocarditis. She was 3 years old at the time. We were at the local pool and she collapsed very suddenly and unexpectedly. We had no idea anything was wrong with her heart before this happened.  There was no AED available there at the time. There is now one installed there. CPR was started but they were unable to maintain a regular rhythm even after she was shocked once the paramedics arrived. Would it have made a difference if there had been an AED available? We will never have the chance to know. Hopefully as more locations have AEDs available there will be less chance of another family having to go through the pain we have had to endure.

My husband died of a cardiac arrest in March of 1993 at the age of 44. He had numerous episodes of feeling fast heart beats,  but 4 cardiiologists had all diagnosed it as "stress".  He died on his exercise bike.   His mom had problems in her early 40's but survived them.  Many cardiac tests were done at the time.  She had a full arrest at the age of 81, and the place where she had the arrest had just bought a defib.  She was their first save.  Numerous tests were performed, nothing was found EXCEPT Long Q-T.  My two daughters were diagnosed 2 years later, and this is when it was noted that their grandmaother's EKG which was taken 6 months before her arrest matched theirs bifid t-waves and all.  They have ICDs now, including grandma.