Cynthia
Dailard, a beloved wife and mother of 2 daughters, and a senior public policy associate at
the Guttmacher Institute passed away on
Dec. 24, 2006 after suffering cardiac arrest as a result of previously
undetected Long QT Syndrome. She
was 38 years old.
Cynthia collapsed at work during an
emotional moment in a meeting and never regained consciousness. A
co-worker administered CPR at the scene, but sadly, she suffered an
irreversible ischemic brain injury before paramedics arrived with an AED.
She had experienced no symptoms of Long QT syndrome prior to the catastrophic
cardiac event that tragically claimed her life.
Since 1998, Cynthia
worked at the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research and advocacy group
devoted to women's sexual and reproductive health issues, in the Washington office where
she wrote articles and spoke out on matters of family planning, adolescent
sexual behavior and favoring insurance coverage for contraception. Before
joining Guttmacher, Mrs. Dailard was associate director for domestic policy for
President Bill Clinton, legislative assistant and counsel for Sen. Olympia J.
Snowe (R-Maine), and a fellow at the National Women's LawCenter.
Cynthia was a
native of Syosset, N.Y.,
and a graduate of HarvardUniversity and the University
of California at Berkeley's BoaltHallSchool
of Law. She lived in Washington,
DC and is survived by her husband
of 14 years, Scott Dailard, and
their two daughters, Miranda Dailard (age 5) and Julia Dailard (age 3); her
mother, Ellen Boles; her sister, Sandra Boles; and a grandmother. Mrs.
Dailard’s daughters and her sister Sandra are currently undergoing
genetic testing to screen for the presence of Long QT Syndrome. Her
husband Scott has been working with SADS to secure federal funding for a
research program designed to develop reliable and cost-effective protocols for
diagnosing Long QT and other congenital arrhythmia disorders in young people.
