Free heart health screenings available for student athletes
SEATTLE -- Student athletes are getting ready for school sports, but a hidden danger could put their lives at risk.
To identify the risks, a local foundation is offering free screenings that get to the heart of the matter.
Fifteen-year-old Robert Brown is prepping for his sophomore season in football.
On Wednesday, he got a physical that could save his life.
Nearby Brown was a photo gallery of the local children who died from cardiac arrest - some of them while they played sports, others as they slept.
"Shocking. It could happen to me, so I want to be safer," said the teen.
Among those pictured was 16-year-old Nick Varrenti, a student at Mill Creek's Jackson High School in 2004.
"He died in his sleep. My husband went in to wake him up for football practice and he had died," said his mother, Darla Varrenti.
Since then, it's been the womans' mission to offer free physicals that go deeper than most. Complete with EKGs and ultrasounds, the screening aims to find the clues that could have saved her son.
Varrenti's foundation, Nick of Time, is named after her son. It has teamed up with the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children's Hospital for the testing, which also includes a lesson on defibrillators and performing CPR.
"We don't want a family, a community, a school district to go through what we did," Varrenti said.
And that's why Brown wanted to be screened. His uncle had heart problems.
Because his blood pressure was above normal, Brown underwent an ultrasound to check his valves, under his mom's watchful eye.
"It's my responsibility to make sure my son is healthy, and Nick of Time is giving me that opportunity," said mother Kim Brown.
Soon, they were given the all-clear -- a peace of mind that the teen is heart-healthy.
"That's really good to know," said the teen's mother.
To identify the risks, a local foundation is offering free screenings that get to the heart of the matter.
Fifteen-year-old Robert Brown is prepping for his sophomore season in football.
On Wednesday, he got a physical that could save his life.
Nearby Brown was a photo gallery of the local children who died from cardiac arrest - some of them while they played sports, others as they slept.
"Shocking. It could happen to me, so I want to be safer," said the teen.
Among those pictured was 16-year-old Nick Varrenti, a student at Mill Creek's Jackson High School in 2004.
"He died in his sleep. My husband went in to wake him up for football practice and he had died," said his mother, Darla Varrenti.
Since then, it's been the womans' mission to offer free physicals that go deeper than most. Complete with EKGs and ultrasounds, the screening aims to find the clues that could have saved her son.
Varrenti's foundation, Nick of Time, is named after her son. It has teamed up with the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children's Hospital for the testing, which also includes a lesson on defibrillators and performing CPR.
"We don't want a family, a community, a school district to go through what we did," Varrenti said.
And that's why Brown wanted to be screened. His uncle had heart problems.
Because his blood pressure was above normal, Brown underwent an ultrasound to check his valves, under his mom's watchful eye.
"It's my responsibility to make sure my son is healthy, and Nick of Time is giving me that opportunity," said mother Kim Brown.
Soon, they were given the all-clear -- a peace of mind that the teen is heart-healthy.
"That's really good to know," said the teen's mother.
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