Aldine ISD to Hold Free Heart Screenings for Student-Athletes

Aldine ISD is holding a free heart-screening program to help prevent an all-too-familiar tragedy from happening – Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

Thanks to a grant from the Cody Stephens Go Big or Go Home Foundation, the heart screening will be completely free for all middle school and high school athletes in the district. With more than 750 students expected to participate, this will be the largest heart- screening event ever held in the Houston area. The screening will be held in conjunction with athletic physicals on Tuesday May 6, 1:30-5:30pm at the M.O. Campbell Educational Center.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) is the number one cause of death in student-athletes. The screening will include an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) to look for major abnormalities known to cause SCA, such as an enlarged heart and other conditions, which affect an average of 1 in 100,000 student athletes nationwide each year.

Cypress ECG Project, a Texas-based non-profit organization, will provide ECG equipment and staff to conduct the testing. The results will be read and interpreted by Cardiologists and results of the tests will be returned within 2 days, along with information regarding any potential diagnosis.

SCA is a silent killer, with death often being the first symptom.

On May 6, 2012, Cody Stephens was a few weeks from graduating from Crosby High School, he seemed to be in perfect health, and had no idea that he had a fatal heart problem. On that Sunday afternoon Cody kicked back in his dad’s recliner and dozed off for a nap. He never woke up.

“It is heartbreaking to lose these kids when a simple test might prevent it,” said Scott Stephens, Cody’s father. “By screening in high school, our goal is not just to find the Codys of the world, the student at imminent risk of death, we hope to find the students that never know they have an issue until later in life. Hopefully one day we’ll be able to screen them all.”

In order to prevent other families from suffering the same tragedy they have suffered, the Scott and Melody Stephens started the Cody Stephens Go Big or Go Home Foundation, in honor of their son. They offer grants to schools that want to start heart-screening programs, including their pledge of $15,000 to cover Aldine ISD. The Texas-based non-profit works with more than 100 schools across the state.

Scott and Melody Stephens donated the funds to thank Rep. Sylvester Turner for his work trying to make ECG screening mandatory for all Texas athletes. The effort didn’t make it out of committee in the last meeting of the Texas legislature, but Rep. Turner has pledged his support to make it happen for the next one. Turner named Aldine ISD as his preferred district to receive the donation.

“We’re really looking forward to working with the Aldine Athletic staff to bring heart screening to their students,” said Mary DeBauche, Director of Operations for Cypress ECG Project. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe that a healthy-looking child could have an underlying heart issue, but so often the first sign of problem is death. An simple ECG can do far more to detect heart problems than the physical alone.”

In their 14-year history of heart screening, the Cypress ECG Project has helped save the lives of more than 80 young people, with many more students who must monitor annually to make sure their heart issues don’t become problems. None of these families knew their child had a heart problem before the ECG screening, despite regular athletic physicals.

Athletes are at particular risk of SCA, but all students are welcome to participate. Parent or guardian permission is required to perform the ECG test.

For more information about cardiac screening and the Cypress ECG Project, see [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”] www.cypressecgproject.org or call 361-236-5898.

For more information about the Cody Stephens Foundation, see [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”] www.codystephensfoundation or email: [email protected].