Kai Bates-Diop
Normal, Illinois

Date of Event: Feb 09, 2017

It was a regular Thursday for me at University High school in Normal Illinois. I had a full day of classes and felt great as I warmed up for after school basketball practice with my varsity team. We had just finished a drill, and I ran back to get in line when I said to my teammate, “my heart kind of hurts” and in that moment, I collapsed and went into SCA with no pulse and not breathing. Thankfully my school had 2 trainers at practice and a portable AED. The lead athletic trainer performed over 4.5 minutes of CPR while the other trainer used an AED. My heart was restored back into rhythm after 1 shock, and I had regained consciousness when the EMT arrived. They stabilized me, transported me to a local hospital and shortly there after, I was airlifted to OSF Children’s Hospital in Peoria Illinois, where I received my ICD. For many people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, like me, the first sign of a heart problem is SCA. I never felt bad, dizzy, fatigued or faint. Without the AED and Athletic trainers in my school my outcome would have been very different. I’m active, workout and still play basketball. I am truly one of the fortunate ones.

Diagnosis: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Treatment: ICD