Doug’s Run to The Finish is a campaign that spreads awareness to the vastly growing epidemic of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) affecting our youth athletes.

Mission

Our mission is to stop this vastly growing epidemic in youth athletes by catching Congestive Heart Failure early through education on SCA and screening our youth athletes we hope to save as many lives as possible by providing the recourses and information to Coaches and trainer on setting up screening events for their sports teams.

Our Campaign

Our campaign is to educate on congestive heart failure, the causes and symptoms surrounding it. SCA and what to do in the event an Athlete collapse. Coaches and trainers should have defibrillators accessible at training and sports events and be trained to use them. Pamphlets providing information concerning screenings and exams, who should get them and why.

STATISTICS

*SCA is the leading cause of death in youth athletes

*suddenly stopping the heart within seconds

*1 youth is affected by SCA every 3 days

(Study by Close The Gap)

We want to stop this growing epidemic by equipping the school and community teams with defibrillators for training and sports events, as well as have the coaches and trainers trained on how to properly use them. We also want to assist schools and community sports teams with resources to set up events to get heart screenings.

Doug’s Story

This story began April 28 2019 when my 16 year old first born son Doug collapsed after a run. Me and my daughters Immediately begin giving him CPR until first responders showed up and took over. He was rushed to the hospital where I was told he never responded. So the harsh reality was staring me right in my face that my son, who I just was running on our trail not a whole hr ago, was no longer with us and I would be leaving the hospital with out him forever..

After analyzing his heart, they saw that it was enlarged. My son had a heart defect at birth that I was told would correct itself and obviously never did. The doctors asked me if heart defects or heart attracts were common in any of our families and I found out it was, on his dads side. But these were things I never knew to ask because he was healthy as far as we knew. If he would say he had a headache or sometimes my finger feel numb and tingly, or something we may see as common like a tummy ache, or back pains...I would ask regular mom questions : what did you eat? have you been drinking enough water? did you sleep on your arms last night? When was your last bowel movement? I didn’t know to ask if he was experiencing shortness of breath or experiencing heart palpitations. I didn’t know to check his heart rate to see if it was racing or irregular.

My son played 3 sports basketball, football, and track and field and ran daily and his heart was not getting enough oxygen and was overworked. His heart ultimately stopped and we never knew any of it was happening. On 4/27/19 I took Doug to the ER. He was complaining about a bump on his chest hurting, and because I didn’t know enough about congestive heart failure and the causes and symptoms surrounding it I did not know what to tell the doctors to look for so they sent him home and said he was fine and the next day his heart stopped. After going on a run that he was adamant to finish in my sons untimely passing he birthed “Dougs Run To The Finish” because he finished his race.

Doug will always be remembered as a bright and determined young man. A young man who didnt accept anything less than what was great. A responsibile kid who always did what he was asked. He was so fun loving and silly that you couldn’t help but be happy around him. He loved to dance and sing and he was serious about his sports and most importantly his academics he was an A B student and on the national honor society, and had a promising future ahead of him. He taught us so much, impacted us through his wonderful 16 years. And for that we want to not only honor him but bring awareness to other families especially those with young athletes. Doug is saving lives bringing light to a serious issue that affects so many people even in his absence. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms or know someone who is you need to know what questions to ask and what actions to take that can potentially save a life.