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Victoria group tackling medical issues

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  • Mike Forman •
  • Originally published July 4, 2008 at 12:39 a.m., updated July 4, 2008 at 12:39 a.m.

The sad truth about heart conditions in young athletes is by the time they’re discovered, it’s often too late.

“The first time they go down, nine times out of 10 they won’t get up,” Dr. John P. Higgins said. “Most of the time I’m talking to the parent after their child has died.”

Higgins said at least 60 athletes in Texas have suffered sudden cardiac death since 2001 and Victoria has not escaped the consequences.

Matthew Thomas, a freshman at Memorial, collapsed during a preseason workout and died in August of 2003. A medical examiner’s report ruled Thomas died as the result of a rapid, irregular heartbeat.

The Legislature reacted to potentially catastrophic injuries by passing Senate Bill 82 in May of 2007. The law mandates safety training for coaches and athletic trainers and requires schools to have a defibrillator at athletic events.

But Higgins, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston and the co-director of the Roger Clemens Institute for Sports Medicine and Human Performance at Memorial Hermann Hospital, insists the steps taken by the Legislature did not go far enough to prevent catastrophic deaths.

Higgins has proposed a pilot program to the Houston school district that includes a self-administered questionnaire of a student’s personal and family history, a physical examination of the heart, an electrocardiogram (EKG) and a limited echocardiogram starting in the sixth grade.

Higgins knows the biggest barrier to overcome is the cost of the testing and Victoria residents Isaias Garza and Al Rathjen believe they have come up with a solution.

Garza and Rathjen have formed the ATS Sports Medicine Foundation, which they describe as a prevention, education and support system for student-athletes.

“They’re right on target with what they’re trying to do,” Rathjen said of the Legislature. “What we’re saying is their methodology is wrong. The weakness is a lack of prevention. Doing preventative would reduce a lot of these deaths.”

Rathjen and Garza are focusing on cardiac deaths and traumatic brain injuries brought about by concussions. They support the use of echocardiograms and are eyeing technology being developed at Georgia Tech that would establish the seriousness of a concussion almost immediately.

“It is the parents and coaches responsibility to provide a safe environment for the athletes while playing high school sports,” Garza said. “With the addition of an echocardiogram and a baseline concussion assessment to the UIL participation physical evaluation we will determine if it is medically safe for an athlete to participate in sports.”

Garza and Rathjen stress they are concerned with every aspect of an athlete’s condition and hope to introduce a comprehensive athletic training system that would include a team or personal physician, an athletic trainer, a sports psychologist, a sports dietician, a professional chef and a strength and conditioning specialist.

“We want a kid to know he has a place to go get help,” Rathjen said. “We want him to know we have experts there for him. We want to level the playing field so not just rich kids have access to it.”

Rathjen and Garza say they are working to line up sponsors and health care providers so they can offer the services free of charge to student-athletes.

Rathjen has been in contact with Higgins and others at the sports medicine institute at Memorial Hermann Hospital.

He has also approached school administrators, trainers and businesses about getting involved in the program.

Higgins is not part of Garza’s and Rathjen’s foundation but said it is helping to get the message out.

“I’m a marathon runner and very much into fitness,” Higgins said. “We want to get the kids exercising, but we want to make sure they’re safe doing it.”

Rathjen and Garza are convinced they have found a formula to make athletic activities safer for student-athletes.

“We’ve definitely seen what’s going on,” Rathjen said. “A lot of those things can be eliminated by education. Without an alternative to what we’re doing now, we’re just putting a Band-Aid on the problem.”



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