Since losing her son to sudden cardiac arrest, Melinda Truax has organized school assemblies to teach kids how to help save lives. She recently testified in Olympia in favor of a bill to boost awareness of the heart condition that can kill without warning. Now, she is focused on a fundraiser aimed at equipping Edmonds district schools with lifesaving devices.
“The gala is our biggie,” said Truax, whose son Matthew died from sudden cardiac arrest in 2013.
A dinner and auction is scheduled for Feb. 28 at the Lynnwood Convention Center. The Save a Life: Equip a Hero event will raise money for the Heart of Edmonds School District &Community Heart Safe Project. Truax said the fund-raising goal is at least $150,000. The money will be used to buy and maintain automated external defibrillators, known as AEDs, for all Edmonds district schools.
In November, Truax was involved in putting on “flash-mob” assemblies to teach students how to use the devices and do hands-only CPR. She said Wednesday that although most schools have the devices, large schools and their athletic venues need more than one AED. And some equipment is old and needs replacing, she said.
Matthew Truax, 16, collapsed Sept. 13, 2013, while running on the Meadowdale High School track. Melinda and Jerry Truax had no idea their son had an abnormal thickening of his heart muscle. “Our son did a 90-minute soccer practice the day before he died,” the Edmonds woman said.
Diana White, president of the Edmonds School Board, knew Matthew. “His death greatly impacted the Meadowdale High community,” White said Thursday. “Working to increase the number of AEDs in our schools is a way the Truaxes are trying to bring meaning from such a tragic loss.”
Truax said her heart-safe project gets funding from the Nick of Time Foundation, a separate nonprofit that sponsors heart screenings for young athletes. Two screenings are scheduled this spring in Snohomish County. Medical teams will be at Mariner High School on May 6 and at Mountlake Terrace High School on June 3.
On Jan. 22, Truax and Darla Varrenti, founder of the Nick of Time Foundation, joined others in Olympia to testify in support of Senate Bill 5083, a sudden cardiac arrest awareness act. Varrenti’s son, Nick, a 16-year-old football player, died of sudden cardiac arrest in 2004.
Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, a Bothell Democrat who represents the 1st District, sponsored the bill. It would require the Washington State School Directors’ Association, working with the University of Washington Center for Sports Cardiology, to create an online pamphlet with information about sudden cardiac arrest. Student athletes and parents would be required to sign forms each year stating they had reviewed the information. And every three years, coaches would complete an online program covering cardiac arrest warning signs and prevention strategies.
Truax said the bill is much like Washington’s Zackery Lystedt Law, legislation related to concussions in youth sports that was passed in 2009.
Along with Varrenti and Truax, a Longview teen testified in support of the bill Jan. 22. Spencer Best, 18, told the Senate committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education that he suffered sudden cardiac arrest as a sophomore, and that his basketball coach and a parent at Mark Morris High School knew how to help him using CPR and a heart defibrillator.
Friday is National Wear Red Day, an effort by the American Heart Association and other groups to draw attention to women’s risk of heart disease. Truax thinks that message should include the risk to kids. And she believes that equipping schools will help people of all ages.
“Think about the parents, grandparents and teachers who are in schools every single day,” Truax said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Heart safe gala
The Save a Life: Equip a Hero Gala &Auction is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Lynnwood Convention Center, 3711 196th St. SW. It’s a fundraiser for the Heart of Edmonds School District &Community Heart Safe Project, and proceeds will be used to equip Edmonds district schools with automated external defibrillators. Tickets, at $125, are available at www.heartofedmondssd.org.
Take This Dress to Heart Fashion Show and Dress Sale, another fundraiser for the project, is scheduled for April 19 (time to be arranged) at the Mountlake Terrace High School theater. Tickets are $10. Information: www.heartofedmondssd.org/take-this-dress-to-heart-fashion-show-dress-sale
The Nick of Time Foundation will hold heart screenings for students ages 14-24 on May 6 at Mariner High School and June 3 at Mountlake Terrace High School. Information: www.heartofedmondssd.org/nick-of-time-foundation
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