ANNA MARIA ISLAND, Fla. (WWSB) – Florida is the first state in the nation to require heart screenings for high school student athletes, but one Tampa Bay family says the requirement should extend to middle schoolers as well.
A racing heart that wouldn’t slow down
Jensen Pearce, 13, plays softball and flag football. After one game, her racing heart never slowed down.
“I thought I was just worried, or overthinking, or anxiety or something like that,” Jensen Pearce said.
“She played the game, and then after, she went straight to the car. She said, ‘I don’t feel good — my heart is still pounding,’” said Jessica Pearce, Jensen’s mother.
At the emergency room that night, nurses recorded Jensen’s heart rate at 262 beats per minute.
“The lady kept telling me it’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay — but I was just very worried,” Jensen Pearce said.
“I played some music to calm her down. We were waiting for the medicine, my husband was on his way — it was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced,” Jessica Pearce said.
Dozens of other athletes diagnosed
Jensen was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White. Dozens of student athletes have been diagnosed with the same condition since Florida’s screening requirement took effect.
“We’re at about 85 kids who’ve been found with Wolff-Parkinson-White,” said Shawn Sima, a sports medicine physician assistant.
Sima works with Who We Play For, a group focused on preventing sudden cardiac events in young athletes. He said a standard sports physical often is not enough to catch deadly heart conditions.
“With my clearest hearing, in the quietest room, I have a 20 percent chance of finding a deadly heart condition in a kid. At best,” Sima said.
Back to sports after cardiac ablation
Pearce said doctors told her an ECG likely would have caught her daughter’s condition. A cardiac ablation has since allowed her to return to sports.
“I know it’s annoying, and some people think it’s stupid, like it won’t happen to them. I thought that too. So did my mom. But it did happen — so you never know,” Jensen Pearce said.
Jensen and her mother intend to advocate for ECG screenings to be mandatory for student athletes of all ages.
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