Young batter hit by pitch in Colonie suffers rare heart stoppage, but quick response makes the difference

Teamwork proves vital as Little Leaguer revived

Young batter hit by pitch in Colonie suffers rare heart stoppage, but quick response makes the difference

Pete Iorizz, Times UnionCopyright 2012 Times Union. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

By Pete Iorizzo

Updated 09:43 p.m., Tuesday, April 17, 2012

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The heart of an 11-year-old Little League baseball player started beating again Monday evening moments after he was hit by a pitch and nearly died at home plate.
The boy was batting in a Colonie Little League game at Cook Park when he was struck by a pitch and crumpled to the dirt. The pitch had hit him in the chest and stopped his heart.
A coach and police officer performed CPR before a defibrillator brought the boy back to life. He was recovering Tuesday at Albany Medical Center, police and coaches said.
"This was about everyone working together as a team," said Frank Prevratil, the president of Colonie Little League.
Prevratil, who also was the coach of the other team, was the first to begin CPR.
"There was no panic from anyone, no hysteria," Prevratil said. "Everyone did exactly what they were supposed to do."
Police and Colonie Little League officials declined to release the boy's name.
The boy may have suffered a condition called commotio cordis, which occurs when there is a blow to the heart at precisely the right fraction of a second to disrupt the organ's electric rhythms.
About 65 percent of commotio cordis victims die, though it accounts for only three or four deaths nationally each year, said Peter Berry, deputy chief of the Colonie EMS department.
"In my 23 years in the department, this is the first call for of this specific type of incident that I can recall," Berry said.
The call came into Colonie EMS dispatchers at 6:37 p.m. Monday, seconds after the boy had been hit, Berry said.
The boy's coach, Mike Martin, bolted from the dugout and realized the boy was having trouble breathing, Prevratil said.
Martin declined comment, other than to say the boy was doing well Tuesday.
When Prevratil saw the boy's coach needed further assistance, he rushed from his own dugout. On his way to home plate, he heard someone from the stands shout, "Call 911!"
While Martin and Prevratil tended to the boy, he slipped out of consciousness. That's when Prevratil began CPR.
He performed chest compressions for only about 30 seconds before Colonie police officer Brian Curran arrived on the scene, at 6:42 p.m., Colonie Police Lt. Robert Winn said.
Colonie Police declined to make Curran available for comment.
Curran took over CPR, but it was only two minutes before the EMT team reached the boy with a defibrillator.
His heart restarted while he still was lying in the batter's box, Prevratil said, and he was taken away by ambulance.
By that time, all the other players had been moved to another field, where they couldn't see what was happening at home plate.
"It was amazing to see everyone working so calmly," Prevratil said. "Everyone did what they were trained to do."
The umbrella Little League organization mandates that at least one coach of every team participate in a two-hour safety course, which covers everything from first aid to life-threatening incidents.
"I'm very proud of that training and the way it worked," Prevratil said.
In 2000, commotio cordis was responsible for the death of a 14-year-old lacrosse player from Long Island named Louis Acompora.
His death led to what is now called, "Louis's Law," which mandates all New York State public schools have defibrillators available at sporting events. But the law does not govern recreational leagues.
piorizzo@timesunion.com * 518-454-5425 * @PeteIorizzo

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Teamwork-proves-vital-as-Little-Leaguer-revived-3488642.php#ixzz1sOrl6jME

Look for Warning Signs of Sudden Death in Kids

By Nancy Walsh, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Published: March 26, 2012

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco.

Action Points

·         Awareness of warning signs and family history are crucial for the prevention of sudden cardiac arrest in young people.

·         Note that the statement recommends that clinicians recognize the warning signs and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest, including those that may be incorrectly attributed to noncardiac diseases and, thus, delay correct diagnosis.

Awareness of warning signs and family history are crucial for the prevention of sudden cardiac arrest in young people, according to a new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Pediatric sudden cardiac arrest can be lethal within minutes if unrecognized and untreated, and some 2,000 related deaths are thought to occur in the U.S. each year, according to the statement, which was published online ahead of print in the April issue of Pediatrics.

"Although [sudden cardiac arrest] may be the sentinel event, symptoms in patients with structural-functional or primary electrical disorders may, in fact, be relatively common," the statement reads.

Symptoms can include chest pain, dizziness, exercise-induced syncope, and dyspnea, which may have bee n disregarded by the patient and family; a detailed history also may reveal the sudden, unexplained death of a young relative.

In fact, estimates suggest these warning signs may be present in up to half of cases of sudden cardiac arrest in children.

The most common underlying causes of sudden cardiac arrest in this age group are structural or functional disorders such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and coronary artery anomalies, and primary cardiac electrical disorders such as familial long QT syndrome and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

The most frequent immediate event is a ventricular tachyarrhythmia, the statement authors noted.

Some types of arrhythmias, such as torsades de pointes, can be transient and may appear similar to seizures, which highlights the importance of accurate diagnosis.

The statement recommends that clinicians recognize the warning signs and symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest, including those that may incorrectly be attributed to noncardiac diseases and, thus, delay correct diagnosis.

For example, if the patient is thought to be experiencing a seizure, the likely referral may be to a neurologist, which could delay the diagnosis -- with potentially disastrous results.

Similarly, if dyspnea is the presenting symptom, the workup may focus on a respiratory etiology, so a lack of response to initial treatment should trigger a reconsideration of potential cardiac causes, they suggested.

The statement also addressed the issue of screening young athletes before permitting sports participation.

A variety of risk-assessment tools have been used, and although these have not been validated or assessed for sensitivity or specificity, expert opinion currently emphasizes the importance of these "ominous" findings on a preparticipation screen:

·         A history of fainting or having a seizure, especially during exercise

·          Past episodes of chest pain or shortness of breath with exercise

·          A family member with unexpected sudden death or a condition such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or Brugada syndrome

The academy also considered the role of ECG screening for young athletes and referred to earlier American Heart Association guidelines that did not endorse widespread use of this test, citing the possibilities of false-positive and false-negative results, cost, and medicolegal problems.

"Wide-scale E CG screening would require a major infrastructure enhancement not currently available in the U.S.," the statement pointed out, and called for additional data and debate on the subject.

Another recommendation was regarding the "molecular autopsy," which would include a postmortem genetic analysis aimed at detecting cardiac channel abnormalities in any child with sudden cardiac death. This currently is primarily a research tool, but could provide valuable information to survivors.

As to secondary prevention of sudden death following an episode of cardiac arrest, the authors of the statement acknowledged that identification, treatment, and appropriate activity restriction ca n't be successful in every case.

They therefore recommended extensive placement of automated external defibrillators in schools, along with cardiopulmonary resuscitation training of staff and others.

The statement also argued in favor of the establishment of a central registry for pediatric sudden cardiac arrest.

Other groups that have endorsed the statement include the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Heart Rhythm Society.

One of the authors of the statement disclosed receiving fees, honoraria, and royalties from Biotronik, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, and Transgenomic.

After girl's death, mother strives for school CPR training

Joins effort to enact lifesaving legislation

By Henry L. Davis

NEWS MEDICAL REPORTER

Published:March 25, 2012, 10:27 PM

Updated: March 26, 2012, 7:38 AM

Would more timely CPR have saved Emily Adamczak's life as she lay on a soccer field in Akron?

That question lingered so much for her mother, Annette, that she became a vocal advocate for CPR training in schools after Emily's death from cardiac arrest in 2009.

She helped push Akron High School, where Emily was a freshman, to train the entire student body earlier this year in basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation during physical-education classes.

Now she has joined a statewide lobbying campaign for legislation to mandate CPR training, as well as instruction in the use of automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, in high schools across New York.

"We teach kids about safe sex and how to be a good parent, but we're not giving them lifesaving skills," Adamczak said.

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Currently, New York education law allows CPR instruction to be offered in high school health classes but doesn't require it.

A bill in the State Legislature that would mandate such training is sponsored in the Assembly by Harvey Weisenberg, D-Long Beach, and in the Senate by James S. Alesi, R-Perinton. The legislation, which has failed to move forward to a vote in the past, is in the Education committees in both houses.

Adamczak and others backing the bill say that CPR has changed and that it is easier to perform and teach today.

The purpose of CPR is to circulate oxygenated blood -- not to start the heart -- and keep the brain and other organs alive long enough until defibrillation and other advanced care can be performed to restore a normal heartbeat.

Nearly 300,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually in the United States. Survival rates vary widely by region, but the overall average is less than 8 percent.

In 2010, the American Heart Association revised its CPR guidelines. It recommended that untrained bystanders start chest compressions, instead of first clearing the airway and then performing mouth-to- mouth breathing, until an automated external defibrillator arrives to deliver a shock to the heart.

The organization made the change as a result of growing concern that bystanders were reluctant to get trained and perform the old CPR approach for a number of reasons, such as their own panic in such situations and anxiety over potentially harming a person, and apprehension about disease transmission and doing the procedure incorrectly.

Fewer than 1 in 3 victims of a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital receives lifesaving help from a bystander, according to several studies. However, nearly half of cardiac arrests are witnessed by someone, suggesting that more widespread training in CPR c ould improve the chances that bystanders will take action.

Still other studies show that more people are likely to do CPR if it involves only chest compressions and that more people are likely to take action if they have received training in CPR. Research also indicates that the simpler chest-only CPR significantly increases the willingness of bystanders to quickly perform CPR and, as a result, greatly improves survival rates.

"You can double or triple survival rates for the little time and cost it takes to train people," said Julianne Hart, state director of advocacy for the American Heart Association.

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Three states -- Alabama, Iowa and Rhode Island -- mandate CPR training in schools, according to the American Heart Association.

A key rationale behind efforts to make it a high school health class requirement is that the more people who know CPR and are comfortable using it, the more likely it is that survival rates will continue to improve, Hart said.

Opposition to requiring training centers on the cost to schools and the time that would be required. It's considered an unfunded mandate at a time when school budgets are being cut and the curriculum is jampacked. "CPR is an important issue, and this is a laudab le goal, but we oppose a mandatory requirement," said David Albert, spokesman for the New York State School Boards Association.

"Local districts should have the option of offering the training, as they do now, and the curriculum should not be mandated by the Legislature," he said. "There have been many bills over the years to mandate courses for various things. Many are laudable. But there is only so much time in the school day."

In response to opposition, Hart said that hands-only CPR can be taught in about 30 minutes and that training equipment is not expensive. Some CPR training kits cost less than $30 and can be reused.

She also said the bill requires only that students learn basic CPR skills and does not mandate certification in CPR, which involves a four-hour course taught by a certified instructor.

For advocates such as Adamczak, CPR would be a reasonable addition to the high school health class curriculum.

Her daughter, Emily, was a 14-year-old freshman when she suffered cardiac arrest while playing soccer in an in-house recreation program at the Akron Falls Park Sports Complex. Emily was active in sports, including soccer, swimming and track, but also suffered from a heart condition and was under a doctor's care.

Five minutes elapsed before a bystander who knew CPR got to Emily, vastly reducing her odds of survival.

"That was too long," Adamczak said. "If we had started CPR or gotten an AED to her more quickly, it might have been a different outcome."

Protecting Children From Sudden Cardiac Arrest in Youth Sports Due To Blunt Force Impact: Understanding Commotio Cordis

A blunt force to the chest by a ball, helmet or elbow during a sporting event can cause sudden cardiac arrest and is fatal in most cases. Children are especially vulnerable. Check out the facts and what action to take to prevent and avoid.

http://melisann.hubpages.com/_zu1daahhx0kk/hub/Protecting-Children-and-Understanding-Cardiac-Arrest-in-Youth-Sports-From-Blunt-Impact-Commotis-Cordis

Teen's Sudden Passing Sparks Crusade For CPR In Schools

4:10 AM, Feb 7, 2012  

Written by

Michael Wooten

AKRON, N.Y. -- More than 400 students at Akron High School are equipped with life-saving training, following the loss of a fellow student. Now, the goal is to make that happen in schools statewide.

Two years ago, Emily Rose Adamczak was at a local soccer practice, when she collapsed. Doctors didn't know it beforehand, but Emily had a serious medical condition that caused sudden cardiac arrest.

Emily didn't receive CPR for five minutes after she collapsed, and her family and friends always wonder if her life could have been saved.

Since that day, Emily's mother Annette has made it her mission to get more people trained in CPR. She worked with Rural Metro, the local fire departments, and other organizations to do community CPR training sessions.

Then, Annette set her sights on t he high school. With the wholehearted support of the principal, she worked with the American Heart Association, Rural Metro and others to train every high school student in CPR and how to operate an automated external defibrillator or AED.

That training recently wrapped up.

"I just don't think that any other family should have to go through this," Annette said. "Not at such a young age should their child, should their sibling have to pass."

REMEMBERING EMILY

Emily Rose Adamczak was as outgoing a 14-year-old as you could find. She was active in many sports, including soccer, track, swimming and volleyball.

"She loved sports," her mom said. "She loved the outdoors. She could tell you a million and one facts about animals."

Emily Rose was extremely close to her siblings, especially her younger sister Shelby, who spoke with 2 On Your Side.

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"She was a very perky, fun-filled, cheerful girl," Shelby said. "She was always looking for the greater good in things."

Shelby was also at the soccer practice, out on the field, when Emily collapsed.

"Honestly, it pulled me apart from the inside out," Shelby recounted. "It was my best friend. It was my big sister. She was mine."

Shelby said the entire communi ty has been affected by the loss, and many have attended community CPR training sessions in Emily's honor.

THE COST

Until recently, Annette was unaware of a bill in the New York State Legislature that would require CPR and AED training in all high schools. Now, Annette joins the Heart Association in their lobbying effort for that bill.

Bills like this have faced opposition in the past -- and continue to -- because some consider this proposal to be an unfunded mandate. However, Josh Lawrence, a board member with the local American Heart Association, said a cost-benefit analysis shows the bill is needed.

"(If) you think of the minimal cost it would be to implement this, you really realize that this bill makes a lot of sense," Lawrence said.

Principal Joe Lucenti said he normally opposes requirements from Albany, but this is a bill he fully supports.

"Personally I hate mandates," Principal Lucenti said. "But you know, when you think about this, the cost of this is so minimal if anything that it's almost ridiculous not to do it."

Lawrence said the only cost to districts would be for the mannequins, which may cost a couple hundred dollars; however, most districts could partner with non-profits and health care businesses to provide them for free. For instance, Rural Metro provided the mannequins used at Akron.

"It's sad that it would take a mandate to do it, but it would be one of the few mandates that I would ever support," the principal said. "It makes sense, it's very very cost-efficient, and you're teaching kids a skill for a lifetime."

AED MACHINES

In addition to championing CPR training, Annette and others have raised thousands of dollars to install 3 AED machines at the local athletic fields in Akron. This year, they plan to add a fourth.

The machines, which cost about $2,500 each, are connected to a phone line, and when removed immediately call 911.

&quo t;By having this hooked up to the auto-dial system, 911 can be immediately dispatched, and you asve critical moments when you're talking about a life," Annette said. "Every minute does really count... Every second counts."

A fund is set up in Emily Rose Adamczak's name at the Bank of Akron, and the money raised supports the purchasing of more AED machines and a scholarship at Akron High School.

INACTION IN ALBANY

Several bills dealing with CPR training in school s have been proposed in the legislature over the past decade or so; some of the proposed bills even passed one house of the legislature. But there hasn't been enough support to get them into law.

Proponents hope this year may be different.

Before 2 On Your Side started digging into this story, three local legislators were co-sponsors of the bill -- Senators Maziarz and Grisanti and Assemblyman Burling.

2 On Your Side contacted the other 15 members of the WNY delegation.

Now, three more have either signed on as co-sponsors or plan to do so this week -- Senator Gallivan and Assemblymen Ryan and Giglio.

Four other legislators -- Senators Young and Ranzenhofer and Assembly Members Peoples-Stokes and Gabryszak -- said they will vote yes if the bill comes to a vote. Ranzenhofer already did so in a Senate Education Committee vote. A fifth legislator, Assemblyman Schimminger, said he supports the requirement if it gets support from schools. He said he will be "watching for their position."

Several other members of the Assembly said they are supportive of the idea of CPR training, but they cannot support the current bill, because they called it an unfunded mandate. Those Assembly members include Corwin, Smardz, Walter and Hawley.

2 On Your Side has not yet heard back from Senator Kennedy and Assemblymen Ceretto and Goodell.

According to the American Heart Association, only 3 states -- Alabama, Iowa and Rhode Island -- require all students be trained in CPR before graduation. Many hope New York will become the fourth.

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2 On Your Side will continue to follow this story as well as the national conversation to explore if federal intervention is needed and what New York can learn from other states.

LAWMAKERS' STATEMENTS

Several members of our WNY delegation released statements to explain their positions on this issue:

        Assemblyman Ray Walter: "I have been very supportive of the Adamczak family in the past, working with them during my time in the County Legislature to get the AEDs installed at the athleric fields in Akron Falls Park.  While I support the concept of requiring CPR training in schools, I would only support such a mandate if it came with funding from the state.  Our schools and municipalities are already overburdened with Albany's unfunded mandates."

        Assemblywoman Jane Corwin: "The safety of our students and CPR training are top priorities, since they are top priorities I want to make sure that a program like this is fully funded. Because our schools are struggling with their budgets, they do not have the resources to fund additional programs. That is why I am working for Unfunded Mandate Relief for sch ools. I am prepared to sign on this bill as a co-sponsor, when schools have the resources to fund new programs. In the meantime, I am going to continue to advocate for community-based training programs."

        Assemblyman Robin Schimminger: "I certainly encourage students, faculty and staff of school districts to learn how to perform CPR and how to operate an AED machine. If, indeed, school districts support such a state law requiring training in schools, then I would concur. I'll be watching for their position."

        Senator Patrick Gallivan: "This legi slation will save lives and protect students, faculty, and staff in Western New York's schools. The cost to install and maintain an Automated External Defibrillator devide in close proximity to athletic facilities, and to conduct basic CPR training in schools is minimal when compared to many other frivolous mandates. I will work with the New York State Board of Regents to eliminate other mandated items, to ensure every district can afford to implement these lifesaving tools."

        Assemblyman Sean Ryan: "It is usually best to avoid putting new mandates in place, but this legislation will offer students the opportunity to learn a critically important life skill. The best case scenario is to have as many students as possible who are properly trained in CPR."

Updated 02/03/2012 09:32 PM

Lacrosse Player Hospitalized After Hit To The Chest

By: Casey J. Bortnick

A 12-year-old boy is in guarded condition at Strong Hospital after police say he was hit in the chest with a lacrosse ball during an indoor game in Gates Thursday night. Ambulance crews performed CPR and used a defibrillator to restart his heart. For hundreds of local lacrosse players and their families, it's a strong reminder of how important player safety is.

Lacrosse, at any level, is a game of speed and flexibility. That's why the equipment is lightweight and flexible.
"Football pads are used to deliver a blow, whereas these (pads) are used to protect the player from incidental contact,” said Tim Britton, youth lacrosse coach.
Britton and Scott Nitti coach youth lacrosse. They say safety comes first.
"You've got sticks coming down, balls flying through the air. You've got to make sure you're dressed properly for the game,” said Nitti.
Eleven-year-old Jake Jamieson isn't worried about safety, but his father Ralph is.
"We bought an upgraded helmet, made sure that was top of the line."
An ex-lacrosse player himself, Ralph says today's gear has come a long way.
"I think it's a lot better. I mean we had chintzy thin pads, thin shoulder pads, gloves didn't wear elbow pads."
Even the best gear isn't perfect.
Thursday night, around 6, emergency crews were called to the total sports experience in Gates.
"There was a 12-year-old patient who suffered a serious sports related injury,” said Randy Campbell of Gates Volunteer Ambulance.
A young lacrosse player was hit in the chest with a ball. When EMS crews arrived, an off-duty Rochester firefighter was already performing CPR. EMTs used a defibrillator to restart the boy's heart.
As he fights for his life, parents and coaches are taking a second look at what's protecting these players.
"I think the lacrosse community was greatly affected by what happened here last night,” said Britton.
Britton says some players on the JV and Varsity levels are tampering with their gear in the hopes of gaining a greater range of motion, leaving their shoulders and chest unprotected.
"We will be more conscious to alterations to equipment to make sure that's not the case,” said Britton.
"The heart has got to be protected and they've got to make sure these shoulder pads are snug around their waist area, so there's no room for the ball to enter into that area."
Ralph says you can't prevent a freak accident, but you can put a bigger emphasis on safety.
"You want to have fun, you want to all go home at the end of the night, you know, same way you came in that for sure,” Ralph said.
YNN is not releasing the name of the boy who was injured out of respect for the family.
The boy’s coach, Dan Merola, was clearly shaken over the incident. He's asking the community for prayers to help his player "pull through this."

Comsewogue's Reindl's heartwarming story

January 29, 2012 by STEPHEN HAYNES / stephen.haynes@newsday.com

Candace Reindl remembers the phone call -- "Come to the school! Hope collapsed!" -- and the frantic, frightening sequence that followed.
As the mother ran from their home to Comsewogue High School, little more than a block away, her initial thought was, "She must've injured her knee."
Candace entered the gymnasium to find her 17-year-old daughter unconscious on the basketball court, with two coaches performing CPR and more than 50 students huddled nervously. Candace joined in the resuscitation effort. No response, she said.

Hope stopped breathing for six minutes.
"You can't put into words what that's like," Candace said of that May 4 evening last year. "There are no words."
Inscribed on the back of Hope Reindl's Comsewogue bowling jersey, in place of her name, is "D-Fibb." It's short for defibrillator, the electronic device that shocked her heart back into rhythm and saved her life.
The senior joined the team this winter and has adopted the moniker. That she can make light of it now, nearly nine months later, "is nothing short of a miracle," Hope said.
Thanks to the quick thinking of coaches Justin Seifert and Rick Miekley, Hope survived a near-fatal heart attack in what doctors termed an "aborted sudden cardiac death."
"She would've died had she not had an immediate intervention," said Dr. Laurie Panesar, a Stony Brook University Medical Center cardiologist who treated Hope. "Sudden cardiac death is what it sounds like. It's scary because it's sudden and doesn't come with many warning signs."
It's also rare (one in 300,000) in youngsters with no genetic predisposition, Panesar said.
Hope, a lifelong athlete in good physical condition with no history of heart problems, according to her parents, collapsed eight minutes into an intramural basketball game.
"She scored a basket early but looked lethargic a couple minutes later," said Seifert, the girls varsity basketball coach. He was supervising the game, which started at about 7 p.m. "She suddenly stopped and went into a crouch, and I ran to her. I started talking to her, then she collapsed."
Seifert said he signaled for Miekley, the boys coach, and called 911. Hope's breathing was "labored," Seifert said, "and within a minute, it stopped."
The coaches said they had a student retrieve the AED (automated external defibrillator) from the hallway just outside the gym while they performed CPR. Shortly thereafter, Hope's mother arrived.
"I was yelling, 'Come back! Fight!' '' said Candace Reindl, a former elementary schoolteacher who had received CPR training.
Once the device was set up, "it started looking for a heartbeat and then warned that a shock was advised," Seifert said. He and Miekley were putting their AED training to use for the first time. "You hit the button, stand back and pray."
Hope soon gasped for air, he said, and they continued CPR until the paramedics arrived.
"The stars aligned well for this girl," Panesar said, adding that the resuscitation was "tantamount to what she'd have gotten in an ER."
Hope was taken to Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson, where she was stabilized before being transferred to Stony Brook that night. Hope's father, Carl Reindl, said she regained consciousness the next morning (May 5), though she had difficulty processing and retaining information.
She had an internal defibrillator implanted (above the heart, beneath the pectoral muscle) on May 6, her parents said, and was discharged the next day. "All her organs were functioning normally," Panesar said, and she made quick progress.
Hope, who said she has no memory of the collapse or her time in the hospital, returned to school 10 days later.
"I never used to think anything could happen to me," Hope said. "To think, if I wasn't where I was, the outcome would've been very different . . . I can't thank enough."
Hope's May 4 varsity softball game had been rained out, and friends invited her to play pickup basketball. She was a star catcher drawing college interest and her parents, fearing a basketball injury, reluctantly permitted her to go.
What Hope suffered was "catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia," Panesar said. "It's an episode brought on by stimulation from the nervous system. In her case, it was sports."
Hope's life has mostly returned to normal, but she says she no longer can play sports that involve contact or can induce bursts of adrenaline. That includes softball.
She's now looking at colleges with visual arts and culinary programs. The ordeal and subsequent restrictions are "extremely frustrating," Hope said.
As well, Candace has concerns that her other children (Emma, 18, Owen, 14 and Aidan, 13) could be susceptible to a similar episode.
The positive, obviously, is that Hope survived and now is aware of the condition. She had felt palpitations "a few times" while catching on hot days, she said, "but I didn't think it was abnormal."
Monthly visits to the cardiologist have returned clean results and the internal defibrillator, which monitors heart rate, has detected no irregularities thus far, Carl said.
Last fall, Hope was cleared to participate in two scholastic sports: bowling and golf. She had bowled only recreationally ("maybe once a year'') previously, but she tried out two weeks before the season and earned a starting position. The 234 she rolled in her first game Dec. 6 "was like hitting a home run," she said.
Turns out Hope, who had received all-district honors in softball after batting .474 in her junior year, was good at even more sports than she realized. She finished the regular season with a 147 average and helped Comsewogue clinch the League III bowling title last week. The Warriors will compete in Saturday's Suffolk championship tournament.
"For someone who hadn't really bowled before to do so well," teammate Christina Raccasi said, "it's amazing."
Since the incident, the Reindls and Comsewogue have raised money for the Louis J. Acompora Memorial Foundation, which helps provide AEDs to schools. The Comsewogue boys and girls bowling teams share a device, coach Brian Frimmer said, and at home matches, it's kept in a bag at the foot of their scorer's table.
Hope has promised to be careful -- and Frimmer monitors her pace -- but at Hope's behest, teammates have agreed to "not baby me."
As for the "D-Fibb" nickname: "There's no point in being down about it," Hope said. "Why not have a little fun with it?"
Teammates Renee Rocco and Deanna Clark said Hope "being able to joke about it" makes everyone less worried.
"Remembering that day and then seeing her smile now is the most rewarding thing," Seifert said. "How happy she looks to be alive."