Screening program detects teen's heart condition

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

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Through the SafeBeat initiative, children receive free heart screenings.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- A campaign to test high school students for heart problems has already made its first detection.

The SafeBeat initiative launched last month at Plant High School.

Connor Moore, 15, runs on the track team and plays basketball.

Moore received a free EKG at school as part of SafeBeat, which discovered a heart arrhythmia known as Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.

"It scared me," says mother Lee Moore. "I actually took him, I left work and took him out of school and took him to his pediatrician right then and there."

Connor's father Keith Moore says doctors have told the family the condition is 100 percent curable.

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"A great relief," says Keith Moore. "We owe, actually owe, the family who started this foundation a debt of gratitude, because physicals don't include an EKG to find this. You don't want to find your son on a court fallen, stricken to some kind of disease you weren't even aware of."

Now Connor is recommending that his fellow classmates take advantage of the free program.

The SafeBeat initiative was started by a family who lost a child due to an unknown heart problem, and has teamed up with All Children's Hospital to perform free heart screenings at seven Bay area high schools.

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