MIAMI – About 23,000 children and teens in the United States experience a sudden cardiac arrest each year. Many of them do not survive.
To reverse that growing number, a hospital in South Florida is offering a free test that is now available to every young child and teen, including 6-year-old Jamie Merilus, who was saved by an electrocardiogram.
Now young Jamie is the definition of energy.
“I love dancing!” he said. “Dancing, soccer, football, I made 10 touchdowns when I was at my school!”
From breakdancing to soccer practice, his mom says he is not one to get tired easily.
“Food, salads with blue cheese,” said Susana Penaranda, Jamie’s mother.
You heard that right, that’s Jamie’s favorite food. He’s a very healthy and active boy.
Last year Jamie’s mother made a quick stop for Jamie to get a free electrocardiogram.
It’s part of a program the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital has to offer complimentary electrocardiograms to anyone up to 21 years old, in order to detect heart conditions early on.
“I didn’t think anything of it, because my other children came back normal, and I didn’t suspect anything,” said Penaranda.
But Jamie’s tests came back abnormal.
“I was shocked, and then obviously as a parent, you grow scared of the unknown,” she said.
Penaranda had so many questions, she now thanks cardiologists from the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, like Dr. Danyal Khan, who are there with answers.
“There is about one event happening every three days, so about 100 events a year in the United States in which young athletes, or sports figures that apparently have no symptoms, they have been through regular screenings, they can see a pediatrician, and still have a cardiac event,” said Khan. “In Jamie’s case, he has a hole between the two upper chambers, which is known as the neutral septal defect.”
Added Jamie: “So, the cardiologist is good at doing stuff, so she just called my mom.”
She called to explain the simple procedure Jamie needed to get done.
“You basically put a device inside the heart that will permanently close up the hole,” said Kahn.
“I only stayed there for one day,” said Jamie. “It’s only one day. Wake up, go home, take out my IV, that’s it!”
“The procedure that he had was to fix the hole and now it’s completely cured,” said Penaranda.
In just a few months, Jamie’s heart will regularize in size and he is set to live a normal, happy, and healthy life.
“These preventatives are important, they are free, and they are lifesaving,” said Kahn.
These free EKG tests are available all year round at all 20 clinics and urgent care locations for the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The three-minute EKG test for your child, quite literally, could be lifesaving.
Other locations include Nicklaus Children’s Heart Institute Clinic locations at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Main Campus, Palm City, Palm Beach Gardens, Wellington, Coral Springs, Boyton Beach, Weston, West Kendall, Pinecrest and Alton Road, as well as Nicklaus Children’s urgent care locations in Doral, Hialeah, Homestead, Miami Lakes, Midtown, Miramar, Palm Beach Gardens, Palmetto Bay, West Bird and West Kendall.