A mother believes her son, who lost her son to sudden cardiac death, wanted her to help others. “In a way, he left me to carry the ball for him.”
By Nikki Pedersen/Special to The Malibu Times
He was young. He was healthy. He had a full, promising life ahead of him.
Then suddenly, he was gone.
In the wake of her son Chad’s sudden death during a football game, Arista was shocked to find out he was the victim of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a “silent killer” characterized by abnormal thickening of the left ventricular wall of the heart, known to be one cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes.
Chad Butrum was just 26.His heart, which had become enlarged by disease, couldn’t handle the stress of physical activity.
Out of his death was born the Chad Foundation for Athletes and Artists, a nonprofit organization to honor the former Malibu athlete and help prevent the estimated 3,000 victims of sudden cardiac arrest who are between the ages of 15 and 34 and die suddenly on athletic fields each year.
On Sept. 30, the 7th Annual Chad Foundation Volleyball Tournament will take place at Zuma Beach to raise funds and cardiovascular health awareness. It is Arista’s mission that the foundation “inspires youth to live as Chad did-healthy body, healthy mind”-by sponsoring athletic events and artistic expression promoting “traditional American morals and values.”
“Chad affected everyone he met,” said Arista. “There was an enormous outpouring of support for our family after he passed. Eventually, we formed the foundation to solidify everyone’s feelings about Chad, the way he lived, how caring he was. We wanted Chad’s death to help prevent another athlete with a preexisting heart condition to go undiagnosed.”
Chad especially loved football and led a very physical and healthy lifestyle. His mother has a photograph of Chad at a dance where others are holding beers, while Chad holds a glass of milk.
Arista believes Chad wanted her to help others. “In a way, he left me to carry the ball for him.”
The metaphor took on a life of its own when the foundation partnered with Dr. Archie Roberts, cardiac surgeon and former pro football player, to give complete cardiovascular screenings to high school and college athletes. Said Roberts, “We look for not only the game-breaker-the cardiomyopathy-but also the early risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
“About 30 percent of high school kids are coming up with one or more abnormalities,” Roberts said, warning, “We have assumed that young people were healthy, but what we’re seeing is they have hypertension, obesity and increased stiffness in their arteries.”
Competition and self-image often drive athletes beyond their bodies’ limits. A Los Angeles Times article attributes 11 pro, college and high school football players’ deaths in 2001 to grueling pre-season drills conducted in sweltering heat. Over-the-counter supplements thought to enhance sports performance can be bought at supermarkets and health food stores. It’s now known that their action can directly affect the heart. According to the FDA, ephedrine is implicated in causing 80 deaths since 1994-it can put a dangerous strain on the heart when coupled with vigorous exercise and/or a preexisting heart condition.
For Arista, it’s most important to inform and educate athletes, coaches and parents, as well as the public at large, about preventable cardiovascular risk. The Chad Foundation holds as many events as funding allows in order to offer free echocardiogram tests to all participating players, reaching out to as many schools as possible. Currently, the foundation is in talks with coach Rich Lawson of Malibu High School to provide cardiovascular screenings to its athletes.
“What’s so important about the screenings,” according to Arista, “is that we can raise cardiovascular awareness and prevent deaths of at-risk young people.” She hopes the knowledge will lead “every school to have an automated external defibrillator (AED), so in the event of cardiac arrest, lives can be saved.” Besides revealing structural heart abnormalities, such as HCM, the screening results will create a national database, the National Cardiovascular Screening Lifestyle Initiative for medical and scientific research.
The tests at the volleyball tournament will consist of an echocardiogram and tests for hypertension, diabetes, obesity, cholesterol and basal metabolic rate. The goal is to intervene in as many as 60 to 70 percent of individuals who would be at high risk from HCM.
Registration will take place from 9 a.m. on, at the Zuma Beach volleyball courts near Tower 2.
More information can be obtained by contacting Arista at 212.935.4503 or Collin Butrum at 818.262.5180 or by visiting the Web site, www.chadfoundation.org.