Every year in the United States approximately 4,000 children and young adults die suddenly and unexpectedly due to cardiac arrhythmias, but many are unaware of the causes, warning signs and life-saving treatment options.
From childhood through early adulthood Austin Le Blanc had been active, and, by all appearances, healthy.
“He played football since he was 5 years old and he would get palpitations while he was on the field and his trainer would listen to his heart and she would say, ‘You’re just anxious, you’re fine, I don’t feel like you have anything, you’re fine,’” said his mother, Carolyn Bruton.
But shortly after graduating from college, Le Blanc lost consciousness while working out.
He was rushed to the hospital where he was diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.
“In a sense, it was relieving because I had always known there was something wrong and it kept getting worse over time,” Le Blanc said.
Le Blanc’s condition was one of many that fall under the category of sudden arrhythmia death syndromes, which are often genetic in nature.
“Often these people wander around without any knowledge that anything is wrong because most feel completely normal,” said Dr. Susan Etheridge of the University of Utah School of Medicine and an executive director with the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes (SADS) Foundation.
Warning signs may include exercise-related chest pain or shortness of breath, fainting or seizure during exertion and a family history of unexpected and unexplained deaths before the age of 40.
“Drowning, especially in a person who shouldn’t drown like a 15-year-old, can also be a sign of an arrhythmic sudden death or an aborted sudden death,” Etheridge said.
Bruton actually carries the gene for her son’s condition but is showing no signs of it herself.
Following an ablation to reset his irregular heart rhythm, Le Blanc now lives with an implantable defibrillator and takes medication every day.
“We always try to keep our head up and at least now we know what’s going on and we can try to manage it because when you’re fighting an enemy you can’t see, it’s a lot harder,” he said.
Sudden arrhythmia death syndrome progresses differently in all people, but Le Blanc is being closely monitored for any changes that may need further intervention.
For more information go to: www.sads.org.