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My Daughter, Olivia Corinne Hoff
Contributed By Corinne
Hello,
My name is Corinne and I would like to share my personal story with you.
My life was forever changed April 22, 2004, the day my 14 year old daughter Olivia died.
Olivia had always been so active, adventurous, she loved life. My daughter had started complaining about weakness after her PE classes at school. I told her she was probably working too hard and was just dehyrated. Never would I have thought she had a heart condition. Olivia was a cheerleader, basketball player and enjoyed jogging; how could she not be healthy? Never did I even consider the thought that she had a heart defect. Well, about 2 weeks before Olivia died, she complained about headaches, left arm and chest pain. I took her to the doctor. The doctor examined her, listened to her heart and diagnosed or "Misdiagnosed" her has being stressed out; since Olivia was a Freshman in high school, involved in alot of activities. We left the doctor's office and thought, okay, it's just stress. Olivia will just have to slow down, wrong. My daughter went into cardiac arrest April 12, 2004 and was on a breathing machine for ten days. Olivia was being kept alive by a machine. I knew my daughter would not come back to me, so did the doctors. My daughter was removed from the breathing machine and passed way that same day.
Since my daughter's death I quit taking care of myself. I didn't care about my health or life. Now 4 years later, I have decided to get healthy again. I need to get healthy so that I can start working towards educating parents, teachers, coaches and school nurses about this silent killer - LQTS and Elongated QT Syndrome. Since Olivia's death, I have been in contact with many parents who have lost their children to this heart condition. We are doing all we can to prevent more deaths. I hope that sharing my personal story, I can help save a child's life. My daughter's death will not be in vain.
Thank you.
Corinne, Olivia's mom
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Dearest Corinne,God Bless you and your family. I am so sorry--there are no other words! Your Olivia was beautiful!Thank you so much for sharing your story--I have 3 children and will not EVER take any symtoms that they may have so lightly because of your tragic experience. I had open heart surgery last year and feel like I want to educate people too on heart disease in hopes that I may help them. Best Wishes!ln
My family has had a similar expierence. My younger sister , a cheerleader in the junior high, went to bed one night and never woke up. She never complained about any symptoms. She was checked by a doctor about two weeks before she died. He also said she was fine. Now 22 years later we are finding out that we have a prolonged QT syndrome in our family. My brother , 41, has had a pacemaker/defibribulator installed and it looks like my sister, 39, is most likely to have one also. My brother has had a few symptoms which warranted his heart to be checked but my sister ,39, has never had any symptoms. I am still being diagnosed by the doctors. (We are now being told to have our children checked.) I truly believe if doctors did routine (or even ONE!) EKG's on children that maybe they would catch this problem before another family has to expierence this! I wonder if the doctor who checked my sister (2 weeks before she died ) had ran an EKG during her office visit could have saved her life. I know what the death of my younger sister did to my family and I would never wish that on anyone. Thank you for sharing your story. C. Taylor
I am so sorry about your daughter, but thank you for going on to help/alert others. My 10 year old daughter is also complaining of weakness and almost fainting after gym class (consistently). Who do I take her to see that will take this seriously?
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Hello, first, I'd like to begin by saying I'm so sorry for the loss of your daughter Olivia. I truly appreciate you sharing your story and everything you are doing to educate others about this conditon. My daughter Ashley is going to be a junior in high school. Last year she started having migraines a few days a week, after many tests I was told by her doctor that she tested positive for the Epstein-Barr virus. This is why she felt so weak and had the migraines. The doctor said it could take many months before she felt herself again. They also thought she was dehydrated and told me to make sure she drank a lot of water throughout the day. After many months migraines and not feeling much better I took her to a neurologist who put her on some medication. Within a week of taking it Ashley fainted in church on Christmas Eve. I took her back to the doctor who told me to discontinue the medication, which I already had done. The neurologist sent her for an EKG right away, for she wanted to rule out any heart problems. Turned out her EKG came back as borderline QT. She was then sent to see a cardiologist who performed an Echo and another EKG. She was off the meds for a while now and they don't believe the borderline QT was due to the medication since it was weeks since she had taken it. The cardiologist told me that Ashley has borderline QT and there was nothing to worry about. That some people just have prolonged QT waves. Her numbers are QT/QTc 374/452. It's been 6 months since she's seen a doctor. Her migraines have gone away for the most part. Do you think I should get a second opinion on my daughter. She is very active in sports. I hadn't really thought about seeing another doctor but after reading you story maybe I should. Please let me know what you think. Sincerely, Michele
Posted on 8.7.2008 4:33:24 PM | Posted by: michele