On a hot sunny afternoon on October 24, 2015, our youngest son Dylan, was playing catch football with his older brother Branden and neighborhood kids at a neighbor’s house just diagonally across from our house.  Before long, Branden came running home to get me and said something was wrong – Dylan had collapsed all of a sudden for no apparent reason.  By the time I got there, he was unconscious on the ground and started to turn blue.  At the time, I was not trained in CPR so I didn’t know what to do.  By then, my neighbor’s husband had just arrived home and came to help and his wife called 911.  We felt for pulse but couldn’t find any.  Fortunately, not too long after that, Dylan started regaining consciousness without resuscitation.  He looked dazed and confused but I was just overwhelmed that he was alive.

The ambulance came fairly quick and rushed Dylan to the emergency room.  After some initial testing, the doctors started asking if we had a history of Sudden Infant Syndrome in our families, and I felt confused and afraid of where their suspicion is headed.  Upon further testing that night, an EKG revealed that he had an abnormal “QT Interval” and recommended consulting with a cardiologist.  On February 2016, genetic testing performed by Dr. Bratincsak at Kapiolani Hostpital confirmed that Dylan has Long QT Syndrome Type 1.  We were all devastated by this, we felt lost and did not know what to do.  His doctor also recommended that we have an AED with him at all times.

Dr. Bratincsak referred Dylan’s condition to Pamela Foster at her non-profit foundation, Heart Start Hawaii.  Pamela Foster contacted us right away, and upon learning that we didn’t have access to an AED, she donated one to us.  Through her foundation, she also donated an AED to my son’s school, which didn’t have an AED at that time.  Then, she helped us get a third unit thru our HMSA insurance so that my husband and I each have an AED so we always have one around no matter who is picking up Dylan from school.  She even arranged with our local fire department to come train us at home with CPR and how to use an AED.  They also went to the school and trained the teachers.  She even flew to Hilo twice to come visit Dylan.

We cannot thank Pamela Foster enough for her generosity and what she did for us and Dylan.  Having an AED and the proper training gave us a peace of mind and prepared us in case we ever need to use it for Dylan.

— Joanne and Nolan

Aloha Heart Start Hawaii,

Maunaloa Elementary School’s staff, students, parents and community would like to thank Heart Start Hawaii Foundation for the donated AED.  Our community has unique challenges being miles from the closest responder, isolated areas off unpaved roads and internet connectivity in many of these sites.  Now we have an AED in our school that is accessible by staff members that live in our community.  Besides the access to our AED, our students and staff also received CPR and AED training over the past two years.  We know that they will be valuable assets in this community.  Again, I can not thank you more for your generous gift of life for our community.

Mahalo no,

— Joe Yamamoto, Principal — Maunaloa Elementary School