SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — A mother in South Euclid is asking parents to get their child's heart screened. American Heart Month is a painfully important time for Stephanie Kornet; her son Alec died from sudden cardiac arrest on Valentine's Day five years ago.
The 17-year-old was an athlete who never experienced any health issues until he felt light-headed during practice one night and collapsed and died.
Kornet and her husband started the 4Alec Foundation to raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrest and undiagnosed heart conditions in young people as well as to teach the importance of CPR and automated external defibrillators.
Kornet says screenings can save lives.
"We didn't know about sudden cardiac arrest," she said. "It was not on our radar. We did not know Alec had a heart condition. Most times the kids that go into sudden cardiac arrest, that's their first symptom, and nine times out of 10, they don't make it. So it's very important."
According toupdated policyfrom the American Academy of Pediatrics, all children should be screened for the risk of cardiac arrest regardless of whether they're an athlete or not.
Kornet advocates for EKG and echocardiogram to be part of preventive cardiac screenings.
The 4Alec Foundation is planning a heart screening in the summer open to all teens. Kornet says to check the foundation's website for the exact date and time.
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
