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Thursday, August 10, 2006

Raffle Aims For Healthy Hearts

By Matt Gomez
Mountain View Telegraph
    On Aug. 24, 2006, Marsha Schmidt's daughter, Teri Lin Marquez, would have turned 30 years old.
    But Teri Lin suddenly passed away more than six years ago, on Feb. 16, 2000, after she suffered the deadly effects of a genetic heart disorder that had, until then, gone unnoticed.
    Her daughter's death ignited a drive in Marsha to start raising awareness about Long QT Syndrome, a heart disorder that can create an irregular electrical rhythm in the hearts of otherwise healthy people.
    The irregular rhythm can be caused by intense emotion or physical activity. If the heart is unable to regain its normal rhythm, a deadly heart arrhythmia called ventricular fibrillation can result, according to the American Heart Association's Web site.
    The disorder usually affects children and young adults, the Web site says.
    "Without immediate emergency treatment, death follows within minutes," the Web site states.
    Teri Lin had simply picked up some dishes from the dinner table, spoken her husband's name and fell to the floor— she died almost immediately, Marsha said in a recent interview.
    Teri Lin's now 8-year-old son, an East Mountains resident, tested positive for the hereditary disorder after he was brought to the doctor to check out dizzy spells he had been suffering, Marsha said.
    To help raise awareness about the disorder, Marsha is raffling off a 2006 Pontiac PT Cruiser.
    Marsha puts in long hours, often four to six at a time, standing outside farmer's markets, grocery stores and any other places she can sell raffle tickets.
    Money raised will be used to purchase about 10 Automated External Defibrillators— easy-to-operate machines that can send a heart back into a normal rhythm— for Moriarty and Edgewood schools as well as public buildings in the East Mountains, Marsha said.
    "Three hundred kids are dying a month from Long QT Syndrome," she said. "That's what we're trying to do, raise awareness, get the AEDs out and if people need the medication (for the disorder), get the medication to them ... we're trying to sell 1,000 raffle tickets at $35 each or two for $50."
    Each AED typically costs around $2,000.
    "Certainly we want to give away as many as we can," Marsha said.
    Marsha said she recognized the expense AEDs could pose when she needed to purchase two of the units for her grandson— one for use at home and one for school.
    "They're $2,250 each and for some people that would be a little cost-prohibitive so we were lucky enough that we had the money to buy it ... we started talking to people and a lot of people don't have defibrillators," Marsha said.
   
Going unnoticed
    The dangerous thing about Long QT Syndrome is how it can go unnoticed for so long and suddenly turn deadly, Marsha said.
    "Certainly if it can happen to us, it can happen to any family," she said. "That's what we want to make sure, that the AEDs are there if there's a sports injury, or if there's, unfortunately, a tragedy."
    Dr. Steven Yabek, a cardiologist at Pediatric Cardiology Associates in Albuquerque who sees Marsha's grandson as a patient, said that one in roughly 5,000 to 7,000 people suffers from Long QT Syndrome.
    "The main symptom is fainting, that we call syncope, and it's generally fainting during emotional or physical stress," Yabek said. "The fainting is due to a rapid, irregular beating of the heart called ventricular tachycardia, and people can die from it ... they'll die unless they come out of it by themselves."
    Because these fainting episodes can result in death, the treatment for Long QT Syndrome typically revolves around eliminating them, Yabek said.
    Treatment can include the use of beta blockers, Yabek said— medications that reduce the electrical surges that cause a heart to begin beating rapidly and irregularly. But as many as 25 percent of people won't respond to the medications, he said.
    If the beta blockers prove ineffective, an implantable defibrillator can be used.
    Internal cardiac defibrillators, or ICDs, detect when a heart is fibrillating and shock the heart back into a normal rhythm, Yabek said.
    Long QT Syndrome is generally detected by examining the output of a heart's rhythm on an electrocardiogram, Yabek said. The "QT" represents a portion of a heartbeat that is longer in those who suffer from the syndrome, he added.
    "In people with Long QT Syndrome, they have a long measured QT interval that's apparent on their electrocardiogram, so it's pretty easy to diagnose," Yabek said.
    In some cases the long QT interval can be marginal, so a scoring system that includes looking at a family history can be used to make a diagnosis, Yabek said.
    Because Long QT Syndrome is inherited genetically, 50 percent of the children of a parent with Long QT Syndrome will also suffer from the disorder, Yabek said.
   
Foundation of aid
    Marsha established the Teri Lin Foundation in April, turning her efforts into a formal organization that could provide aid for sufferers of Long QT Syndrome and get more information out about the disorder, she said.
    She had been working primarily with the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes Foundation since August of 2000, but decided to form her own organization so she could provide more direct assistance to those in need, Marsha said.
    Marsha will be selling raffle tickets at Los Ranchos De Albuquerque Farmer's Market on Saturday from 7 to 11 a.m. and at Smith's supermarket in Edgewood on Sunday morning, she said.
    For more information on the raffle or to purchase raffle tickets directly, contact Marsha at 573-2917.
    The drawing for the PT Cruiser will be held Aug. 24. A separate drawing, pulled from the same tickets sold for the PT Cruiser, will be held Saturday at Crossley Park in Moriarty. That drawing will be for a trip to Mexico.
    The tickets drawn for the Mexico trip will still be eligible for the car drawing, Marsha said.