Medical Worries

There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that my brother-in-law, Chris, is alive...the bad news is that he has a heart condition that requires the insertion of a defribrilator and life-long beta blockers. And he cannot ever run competitively again.

The disease is CPVT (the long version would take forever to type). From what I have read, it is a genetic mutation that disturbs the calcium storage in the heart and when adrenaline (or catecholamines) is introduced, the heart does not respond properly and produces a fast and chaotic heartbeat that throws the heart into tachycardia. The outcome is either the heart reverts out of the tachycardia or it doesn't. That latter results in sudden death. Chris realizes he has probably had about 20 incidences while running over the last few months, though he did not know what he was experiencing. In all of those episodes, his heart reverted back to a normal state, luckily. From this point forward, he will have to be vigilant of high levels of emotional stress and intense exercise, though his prognosis is good with defribrilator and meds.

The genetic implications are plain, with 30% of CPVT having familial linkages. Greg and Chris' father (Mike) will be consulting his physician and so will Greg. Then we will think about any implications for Brayden. Scary to note - this disease is difficult to diagnose because it comes on only during exercise and/or high levels of emotional stress. Chris had a stress test a couple of weeks ago and it was normal. Only while continuing to run while wearing a heart monitor was the arrythmia discovered. So, even if Greg's stress test comes back normal, he may not be free-and-clear. It seems we have to really wait until he either has a syncope (fainting spell) or...well, you get the idea.

Another scary note: this disease is typically diagnosed in children, with the mean age of onset at 7-9 years, though (of course) it can be diagnosed as late as the 4th decade. I read a study reporting 30% of untreated cases of CPVT resulted in sudden death before age 40. Another study indicated 50% of untreated childhood cases resulted in sudden death by the age of 20.

Please be praying for Chris and his family as they move forward with the adjustments that will be necessary. I will post more as we learn about Mike, Brayden, and Greg.