Local group celebrates efforts to protect student-athletes from sudden cardiac arrest, gears up for more work

As Underdue told me last year, Antonio Underdue Sr., her husband and the father of her two young children, died suddenly and unexpectedly in the family's Durham home in 2014. Underdue, an engineer who had worked for NASA during his career, collapsed in his son's room. There had been no warning.

"Everything was fine the night before," Koren Underdue told me. "He woke up. He dropped my niece at school. He came back. And he had a heart attack in my son's room."

Antonio Underdue had a family history of heart disease. He exercised, ate right and saw his doctor. But, after his death, Koren learned that, among other things, her husband should have insisted on not just an EKG, but an echocardiogram, which is a more advanced procedure.

In 2015, Koren, along with help from her two children, Antonio Jr. and Kayla, established Christ Saves Hearts Foundation, which seeks to build awareness about heart disease - especially among young African American men and student athletes.

"In the blink of an eye our lives were changed forever," Koren tells me. "Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and there are many that have been affected. We created Christ Saves Hearts Foundation because we are passionate about spreading awareness and committed to creating strong advocacy programs.”

Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in young athletes. It is estimated that more than 95 percent of cardiac arrest victims die before reaching the hospital. Nine out of ten U.S. student-athletes who suffer sudden cardiac arrest do not survive.

In the past year, Christ Saves Hearts has been working with state legislators on efforts to provide more help to student-athletes, Koren tells me. The group supported the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act, which passed the N.C. Senate, but not the N.C. House. The act would create a task force to research the issue. Koren hasn't given up.

"We are going to push it, and we do have six senators - bipartisan - who are willing to co-author it," Koren said. Both education on the topic and other efforts, including CPR-trained coaches and automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, at schools are solutions that will save student-athletes, Koren said.

To build support for its work, Christ Saves Hearts is hosting its second annual Black-Tie Scholarship Gala at 6:30 p.m., March 24, at the Renaissance Raleigh North Hills Hotel. The Masters of Ceremony will be Callie Douglas, radio personality from 103.9FM - The Light. The keynote speaker is NBA Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy. The event also will recognize the life and work of North Carolina Senator Floyd McKissick and award scholarships to three North Carolina minority high school and college students that have been impacted by heart disease.

"We want students, parents, and schools prepared in the event a student should go into sudden cardiac arrest and know what signs to look for," Koren tells me.