Pheidippides WAS the first. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the last. Who’s this guy, you ask? He was the first person to complete a marathon. At the time, it wasn’t called that – the name was born out of his story.  Pheidippides, a soldier, ran from a battlefield in Marathon to Athens...

Our synagogue honored our work this past weekend by giving us the Keeper of the Flame Award. It’s kind of backwards, because without the support from our friends and community, we would not be in a position to be honored. Phyllis delivered our remarks. DARREN AND I ARE VERY HUMBLED...

The Kingsborough family was adamant about bringing a screening to their community. Denise works for Medtronic and Joe is the vice principal at the high school. With their help, we screened 189 students.

Last Friday, I spent one day at two conferences about sudden cardiac arrest and death in the young.  The SADS Foundation (www.sads.org) hosted its Seventh Annual International Conference.  SADS is dedicated to raising awareness about and researching arrhythmias.  The Second Annual Connor Senn Symposium was a CME about causes and...

When doctors told Margie Gardner her daughter’s heart arrhythmia was not hereditary, she was relieved; at least, she needn’t worry about her older child Jake. Still when she heard about Simon’s Fund’s free heart screening at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in 2007, she decided to have Jake tested. She remains...

This was one of those very special screenings. Two years ago, Caroline Gallagher died from sudden cardiac arrest. The students started a 5K in her memory. This screening was held the same day as the 5K. We worked closely with the Gallagher and Jacobsen families. We also couldn’t have done...

October 30, 2010 was a crazy day in the Keeley house. Both of single mom Beth’s kids had soccer games and the family had promised to attend a birthday party. As a result, Alaysia Keeley almost didn’t make it to Norristown High School to get her heart screened. Luckily, a...

Karen Asper, a nurse affiliated with Abington Hospital, volunteered to work at Simon’s Fund’s free heart screening at Upper Dublin high school on September 23rd, 2012. As the day wore on, Karen learned that space had opened up at the ‘sold out’ screening and she went home to pick up...

We traveled back to Lawrenceville for another heart screening. Working with Cardiovascular Group and Jeremy Nelson’s family, we screened 198 students. This community has been hit hard by sudden cardiac arrest, losing three young men in the span of about one year.

Any mother would gladly lay down her life for her child, which makes both the Jones’ and Sudman’s stories heartbreakingly ironic. Phyllis Sudman has long credited her child, Simon, with saving her life. Following his death, the family was instructed to get their hearts checked. Through this process, Phyllis was...