Get kids checked!

[Andrew'sMom]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE... If you have a family history of valve problems, get your kids checked! This was on the local news last night, the second such sad story in just a couple months time.


PITTSBURGH -- The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said a Duquesne University freshman died of natural causes on Tuesday night.

Authorities said Joe Irwin, 19, was found in his dorm room unresponsive at about 9 p.m. He was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Officials told Channel 11 that the cause of death was a ruptured aorta. This condition is rare in someone so young, but it's often caused by a genetic defect victims never know they have.

"He never showed fatigue on the court, never mentioned anything to any of us that he had problems whatsoever. We're all devastated and shocked by this," teammate Devin Koehring said.

Irwin graduated in 2008 from Bethel Park High School where he was the co-captain of the school's volleyball team. Irwin played club volleyball at Duquesne.

"Always had a smile on his face. Always made us laugh at practice. He definitely will be missed on the team," said Koehring.

The volleyball team plans to sign a volleyball in Irwin's honor and give it to his family.

The university will hold a private memorial Wednesday night for students and faculty only.

 

[Ross]

And this is why I'm so distraught when my kids tell me they're about to be parents. My screwed up genes are going to affect someone else in this family whether it be them, their kids, or their kids kids.

 

[Andrew'sMom]

That is a tough one Ross. I can completely understand what you are saying ... I believe that these problems are heridetary and will eventually surface again. It is a difficult dilemma.

 

[Ross]

That is a tough one Ross. I can completely understand what you are saying ... I believe that these problems are hereditary and will eventually surface again. It is a difficult dilemma.

I really can't express the importance of screening, but I wondered just when one should be screened? None of my problems surfaced until 1991, which is after I married and had all 3 of my kids.

 

[jjay32]

I had my kids have an echo to check the valves this last year. (10 and 11 year old boys). Both came back normal.

Jjay

 

[netmiff]

I don't have kids, my parents are in their late 70s and still alive, but my brother got checked after my surgery, when it was discovered I had a BAV; also e-mailed my cousins. I e-mailed my (female) cousins about my osteoporosis as well, I was 50 when diagnosed with osteo so bad (and I quote my family physician) "that if I fell, I would break!" I had already lost an inch in height. There is no-one else in the family that we know of that had osteo, but every male member of my father's family had a heart attack by the time they were 62, until my father.

 

[BigOwl]

Yes, yes, yes, and yes again.

If your family has a history of heart disease in general, have your kids' cholesterol levels checked NOW. The familial hypercholesterolemia genes manifest themselves in a variety of ways, and testing at birth will show unusually high levels. I had my kids tested after my CABG (my daughter was 16, my son 19), and hers was over 300. And if somebody tries to tell you something like "oh, she probably had too many eggs that day" take the kid to a cardiologist. Fortunately, we caught it early enough for her to develop good eating and exercise habits, and to start on statin therapy, which she'll be on for the rest of her life--with the high probability that she won't need a CABG herself. My son's a little better off because his cholesterol problems stem from being a computer geek who doesn't get out enough and whose diet occasionally lapses (although his wife is on that aspect of it and things are improving).

My son and his wife have decided not to "breed" as they put it, and the gene thing is one reason (the other probably is that they don't really want kids). My daughter has adopted a "wait and see" attitude; any serious marriage talk will involve cholesterol tests, and the probability of adoption if similar genes exist in the spouse-to-be.

I'm also going to start hounding them to get baseline echos done, now that I've found out that my brother is now awaiting a valve replacement. I'm going to survey other family members, too, to find out if there's a history elsewhere.

The beauty of modern medicine is that many of the problems we're born with can be ameliorated, and some surgeries avoided, if we have good information from an early age.

 

[hall]

My daughter has been checked and she is fine. My son......we are waiting. I sure wish he would get checked soon.

 

[Eva]

My daughter has been checked and she is fine. My son......we are waiting. I sure wish he would get checked soon.

I had my kids have an echo to check the valves this last year. (10 and 11 year old boys). Both came back normal.

Jjay

Happy for boh of you.

 

[thenewmarket]

Skipping a generation.....my husband's grandfather dropped dead in his early 60's. He had no known medical problems and his death remained a mystery until my husband (his grandson) was diagnosed with BAV/Ascending Aortic Aneurysm at 51! Guess we know what took his grandfather's life now!!! Our daughters ages 26 and 21 have had echos and both have normal valves and no aorta problems detected. We will continue to have them tested in years to follow. My fear is also for my grandchildren if we ever have any!

 

[LittleOwl]

I am the daughter that BigOwl is talking about and I just wanted to say that getting tested early was the best thing that ever happened to me. Even though I was 16 and under 100 lbs, my cholesterol was 380! My dad's dad died of a heart attack at age 62 so we had an idea that it was in the family, and for that reason I have been pretty diligent about getting tested.

Now that the big 3-0 is rapidly approaching, I plan on going to the same heart center that my mom went to in order to stay on track for avoiding these invasive surgeries.

Also, I had to say I love your picture! Go Steelers! Not many native Dallas-ites that will say that, but I am brave

 

[knoxbone09]

I am too young to have children of my own yet (22)--and this thread has made me question whether I should given my genetics--but I am also in a position to encourage others in my family to get tested for BAV. I have a congential heart defect where two of my leaflets have fused and thickened; I also have premature atherosclerosis in my distal carotid artery (head) due to familial high cholesterol. When I had my cholesterol checked I had an LDL of 168. Thankfully, this problem is not present in my heart.
I was diagnosed this year, which seems late from my perspective, but I do realize that others have had similar diagnosis much later in life. I have two siblings that are younger than I that I am persuading to get checked (I am not sure my mother understands the seriousness of doing this) Looking back it seems so important to know early on! If I had known earlier, I would have avoided a lifestyle in college that only contributed to both conditions.

I feel like a lab rat as the first born.

 

[briansmom]

My son's aorta dissected at 16 and almost killed him. I have had my younger son checked twice - right after Brian's original surgery and again recently now that my youngest has gone through puberty. I also got checked. I think there was a mom on here a few years ago that had her husband die young and 2 out of 3 of her kids had to have valve surgery. It definitely pays for all family members to get checked out.