When her seven-year-old son Aidan suddenly died of cardiac arrest in 2010, Christy Silva, of Downingtown, vowed to do all she could to prevent other families from experiencing a similar tragedy, writes Diane Herbst for People magazine.

Aidan had gotten a clean bill of health from his doctor six weeks before he died in the middle of the day while working on a puzzle. The autopsy determined that he had died of sudden cardiac arrest, but doctors could not find the exact cause of it.

“What most likely happened was that he had an arrhythmia from a genetic cause,” said Silva.

Since most doctors do not routinely do heart screenings for children, Silva decided to do something herself. Three years after Aidan’s death, she co-founded Aidan’s Heart Foundation. In the last six years, the foundation has provided free heart screenings for more than 1,800 children and teens in Pennsylvania. Out of these, 23 have detected conditions that could potentially result in sudden cardiac arrest.

The nonprofit has also trained 5,500 sixth-grade students in Downingtown hands-only CPR and how to use an AED.

Read more about Christy Silva in People magazine here.

[uam_ad id=”80503″]

.

[uam_ad id=”80502″]