In April 2005, I went out with my family to the desert. My father and I decided to
take a ride together. I hit a sharp ravine and fell off of my ATV. I had hit my head, and my body
burned from head to toe, I felt dizzy and nauseated, I then collapsed.
CPR was performed and I was taken to the emergency room where I spent the night in the
hospital. The cause was not determined.
I was told I had a concussion and cleared for discharge, and that no further
cardiac evaluation was necessary.
In the following months, I kept having fainting spells and was evaluated on numerous occasions by
emergency room staff, who told my parents that I may not be eating.
Diagnosis...teenage eating disorder. Not true.
In October 2005, while running, I collapsed again.
Many thanks to an amazing
Paramedic/EMT and a
portable AED within minutes
my life was spared. I was taken to see several specialists including several
Pediatric Cardiologists and after many many long months of tests, EKG’s, holter monitor & Echocardiograms,
I was diagnosed with
Long QT Syndrome — a disorder of the electrical system of the heart.
A simple stress test, used to generate a picture of the heart’s electrical system,
was all it took to find the QT interval. After the speed in the stress test was
decreased and upon resting they found my EKG abnormal.
I was given another chance, to make my time here on earth count.
To make a difference and that is exactly what I plan to do.
It is my mission to help place
AED’s and implement public access defibrillation
programs, to help spare children and adults from needless deaths.
They tell me I have a bad heart...
however, the more I can do to help others
the more it makes my heart well.
Bree Haus
BryanaHaus@aol.com