Local Family Brings Youth Heart Screenings To NCAA Tournament
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Members of a Plymouth Meeting family are in Houston for the Final Four this weekend, but not to watch basketball. The family is part of an effort to screen student athletes for hidden heart defects.
This is the fourth year in a row Plymouth Meeting based Simon's Fund will conduct free youth heart screenings in conjunction with the NCAA Tournament's Final Four.
Darren Sudman and his wife, Phyllis, established Simon's Fund in 2005 after their infant son died of an undetected heart defect. Since then, they've screened more than 13,000 kids and found about 100 with heart issues.
"We do that to try to bring attention to the fact that basketball is the sport that presents the greatest risk of sudden death to student athletes," Darren said.
With all the festivities going on this weekend, he says coming to Houston was a bit more challenging for families this year:
"All the parents share stories about the fact that they almost didn't come, they were squeezing it in between three other activities, so it's never something that they want to do, but they're glad they did."
