LONGVIEW, Texas — After being canceled for two years due to COVID-19, the free teen heart screenings are back in Longview this Saturday and it just might save a life.
Longview Regional Medical Center is hosting free teen heart screenings Saturday for the youth of East Texas. For Parker Cox, a student athlete in Longview, that “screening saved (his) life in all honesty.”
When Parker was 14, he and his mom JoCarol Cox thought it would be a good idea to get screened for free, not expecting the result to be what it was.
“We were informed that he had a heart condition called Wolff Parkinson White, and then with Parkinson White, you have an extra electrical pathway and it causes your heart to flutter and beat faster than it should,” JoCarol Cox said. “And in some instances, it can lead to sudden cardiac arrest in children.”
For Parker and his mom, these results were shocking.
“I was pretty scared. I thought I was mainly leaning on just like I didn't know if I was gonna ever be able to play sports again, or be able to do anything that I loved,” Parker said.
Parker has always lived a healthy and active lifestyle.
“They have hardly been on antibiotics, and he has never had any problems, no signs or symptoms of any problem,” JoCarol Cox said. “So initially, I was dumbfounded and then certainly scared.”
Once diagnosed Parker had surgery to repair his heart and he went on to have a speedy recovery.
“I remember the doctors, they've told me I probably wouldn't have lived to see 25 if I didn't, if that wasn't caught at the time that it was just based off of the lifestyle that I was going to be going down,” he said. “And just like Lobo football workouts and the thoughts on your heart rate gets up and gets going pretty quick.”
Parker went on to have a magical year in playing football, being the all-state center for the state championship.
He now goes to college in Austin and has not had any problems with his heart since the surgery.
“(I) would just really encourage parents to utilize this very generous opportunity that Regional and championship hearts have provided to our community. And just to be sure, I'm so glad that I did,” JoCarol Cox said. I'll be there Saturday with my 14-year-old as well.”
The event will take place from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Longview Regional Medical Center. And remember it just might save your life.