ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Riley Broadhurst was out for a routine run in his neighborhood when his life changed in an instant.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was on a run through my neighborhood. Had just gone back into my neighborhood. Was on the way home when I collapsed. In my neighbor\u2019s yard,\u201d Broadhurst said.<\/p>\n
The teen survived sudden cardiac arrest \u2014 something doctors say is rare, especially for someone with no warning signs.<\/p>\n
[EXCLUSIVE:Become a News 6 Insider (it\u2019s FREE)<\/a>| PINIT!Share your photos<\/a>]<\/p>\n When asked if he had experienced any symptoms before collapsing, Broadhurst said he hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cNo. I\u2019ve been very active since I was younger. And I\u2019ve had I\u2019ve had no signs of any sort of heart issue or even any other issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Broadhurst is one of the few teens to survive sudden cardiac arrest. Advocates say many young people who experience it show no symptoms beforehand.<\/p>\n On Sunday, families gathered in Lake Nona for National Youth Heart Screening Day, an event focused on CPR education and early detection. Among those learning lifesaving skills was 12-year-old Alessia DeMarco, who also received her first EKG screening.<\/p>\n When asked if she could take what she learned back to her sports teams and school, DeMarco didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n While CPR training can save lives in an emergency, advocates say prevention is just as critical.<\/p>\n An electrocardiogram, or EKG, is a simple test that measures heart rate and the electrical signals of the heart using adhesive stickers placed on the body. It can help identify heart conditions that may not be detected during a routine sports physical.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd look at this crazy fact. Sudden cardiac arrest is the number one cause of death in sports and on school campuses,\u201d News 6\u2019s Jayna Manohalal said.<\/p>\n According to heart health advocates, the risk is higher than many families realize.<\/p>\n \u201cOne out of 300 kids have a deadly heart condition,\u201d said Sean Sima, a heart health advocate.<\/p>\n In an effort to reduce that number, Florida has passed a new law making it the first state in the nation to require EKG screenings for certain student athletes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the Second Chance Act, and it\u2019s basically a law now that requires all athletes in high school, new athletes or first time athletes, basically ninth graders, are all required now to have an EKG, at least one to play sports,\u201d Sima said.<\/p>\n The law is set to take effect during the 2026\u201327 school year.<\/p>\n Advocates hope combining early screening with CPR education will help prevent tragedies and save lives across school campuses and athletic fields.<\/p>\n Health officials stress that anyone can perform CPR \u2014 and doing something is better than doing nothing. Here are key tips to keep in mind:<\/p>\n Call 911 immediately\u00a0or direct someone nearby to call before starting CPR.<\/p>\n Push hard and fast\u00a0in the center of the chest. The goal is to keep blood flowing to the brain.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry about hurting someone.\u00a0Broken ribs can heal \u2014 cardiac arrest without CPR can be fatal.<\/p>\n Use an AED if available.\u00a0Automated external defibrillators provide step-by-step voice instructions and are designed for public use.<\/p>\n Continue CPR until help arrives\u00a0or the person shows signs of responsiveness.<\/p>\n Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Riley Broadhurst was out for a routine run in his neighborhood when his life changed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[39411,571,5773,71355,1335,139,141,140,7219],"class_list":["post-147548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-cpr","tag-health","tag-lake-nona","tag-national-youth-heart-screening-day","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-ucf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}