An Inside Look at Real Sudden Cardiac Arrest Cases
- Isabella L.
- Mar 31
- 2 min read
I’m glad you all are back!!
Now that you know much more about sudden cardiac arrest, I will walk you through two different SCA cases. I hope that this case study will help you realize that sudden cardiac arrest can occur in multiple different ways. No one case is the exact same as the other.
Case #1 - Bronny James (October 2004-)
As many of you all know, Bronny is the son of Lebron James.
When: his sudden cardiac arrest occurred on July 24th, 2023.
During: Bronny was training in an offseason workout on the USC campus.
Bronny collapsed while briefly losing consciousness.
He was transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Cause: Significant congenital (hereditary) heart defect
According to Dr. Peter Schulman, this is a broad category for a heart condition.
The James’ family spokesperson said that Bronny’s condition was treatable
While Bronny James’ specific heart defect is not revealed, it’s important to note that his arrest occurred while he was exercising.
NEXT…
Case #2 - Callie Marie Mitchell (June 2007- August 2023)
Callie was at a Texas A&M cheer camp
When: she went into cardiac arrest in her sleep
Callie’s roommate had a hard time waking her up so she got Coach Emberly, their cheer coach.
Coach Emberly called Callie’s parents to ask if their daughter had “a problem waking up in the morning”.
She immediately performed CPR on Callie
Callie was then airlifted to Texas Children’s Hospital, where she unfortunately died.
Cause: long QT syndrome
Genetic mutation
Abnormality of heart beats (abnormality in electrical system of heart)
Long QT syndrome can cause heart palpitations, where your heart beats faster and does so irregularly.
Callie’s sudden cardiac arrest unfortunately resulted in sudden cardiac death. However, there are ways that YOU can help so that SCA doesn’t have to result in death: CPR and AED. I will talk about these two very important items in the next blog!
As you can see, Callie’s sudden cardiac arrest looked a lot different than Bronny’s. While Bronny was actively exercising Callie was just sleeping. Both Bronny and Callie weren’t aware of their heart conditions before their SCA.
I hope this blog was helpful. I thought it would be interesting for you to read about real world cases that have happened. I really wanted to emphasize that SCA comes in many different forms. Thank you and I’ll see you next time!!
P.S. If you liked this blog and would like me to do another case study in the future, then let me know either on Instagram (@junior.heart.champs) or in the suggestion box.
Thank you!!
Work Cited