How does a SADS condition impact you? Please tell us about your own personal experience or how it has impacted someone you are close to.
My husband, daughter, sister-in-law and four nieces have LQTS. My husband required resusitation at 16 years of age and my daughter had a LQTS event almost two years ago from which she had an anoxic brain injury. Three nieces have had AICDs placed, the last because she felt that our families' luck may run out one of these days.

Why do you volunteer for the SADS Foundation?
The sudden death conditions which SADS researches and supports are very scary to families and may be much more common than we currently know.

Please tell us a little about what kind of volunteer activities you do for the SADS Foundation. (i.e. participation in SADS awareness campaigns, responding to advocacy action alerts, attending/organizing SADS events in your community, etc.)
As a cardiac RN, I have the opportunity to educate many nurses to look for and alert physicians to prolonged QTs or those lengthening because of medications. I have also provided materials to select schools and coaches such as the teacher and coach that were with my daughter when she had her event and the health center at the college she attended as a freshman. I have a goal and materials from SADS to continue to meet with schools in my area and I have provided the pediatric office with the risk assessment tools provided by SADS.

What is your favorite part about volunteering for the SADS Foundation?
As a nurse, I like to educated both collegues and people that I have contact with in proactive approaches to health issues. One of the most rewarding aspects of my profession is the affect that we can have in helping people avoid or manage medical problems.