******* Update January 2020:
As a result of advances in the sensitivity of MRI technology over the past 3.5 years, we have discovered I do not have ARVC. The MRI can now visualize I most likely contracted a rare complication from the influenza virus in March 2016. During early March 2016 (my senior year of college), the flu virus likely spread to my heart and gave me viral Myocarditis, a diffuse enlargement and inflammation of the heart muscle. I contracted a serious case of this secondary infection. Fortunately, my heart function and size all returned back to normal once I healed from the viral Myocarditis. However, my heart did scar in a few places as a response to the healing process, putting me at risk for life threatening ventricular arrhythmias. We know my heart received an injury, and, as a result of Dr. Marchlinski and his team's remarkable efforts in the epicardial ablation, I will probably never experience a ventricular arrhythmia again.

The nature of differential diagnosis in medicine is challenging and often hinges on advances in knowledge and technology. As cardiac electrophysiology is a rapidly developing field, the improved ability to distinguish between ARVC and Myocarditis has significant benefits to patients who can make potentially life-altering decisions with more robust information about their situation. I sat in the general uncertainty about what my heart would do for years, relying on the scientific information available at the time and confronting the limitations of human understanding. In this instance, it took 3.5 years and advances in cardiac imaging to gain more clarity about the problem and determine a more specific cause. The prolonged nature of this experience is emblematic of the inherent uncertainty in medicine when seeking to diagnose complex cases. We have only recently in medicine begun to understand the extent to which viruses pose a risk to cardiac function in healthy people. I do hope to continue advocating for all people who experience ventricular arrhythmias.

Thank you for your continued support. We'll never forget it. I don't particularly enjoy posting on the internet. I share this story because I believe it can help other people and inspire positive action in service to others. We hope this project will empower more people with life changing medical knowledge and leave the world a bit better than we found it. Knowing the origins of my heart scar and ventricular arrhythmias has given me an appreciation for what my heart endured. We are grounded by a sense of clarity about what happened, and we'd like to offer that to more patients with continued research.

I also have a greater understanding of the obstacles people confront in their own medical battles. There is much more to a patient history than clinical terminology and what happens within hospital walls. Rather, it's an undertaking that seeps into the heart of your existence for a period of time. The writing on this page scratches the surface of encapsulating the entirety of this experience. There is much more to say. Much more to what took place. Yet, I hope the words inform and provide solace to people meeting challenges in their lives. We are incredibly grateful. So, whether you know me personally or stumbled upon this page, thank you for taking the time to read! *******


A year ago, I didn't know if I would be here to share this story.

Last August, at age 23, I almost died. Suddenly and unexpectedly, I experienced a life threatening heart rhythm. My resting heart rate accelerated to 250 beats per minute, and my blood pressure plummeted. This heart rhythm is commonly fatal.

It all started while walking up some stairs on the way to class. Two steps from the top, I felt my heart begin to forcefully pound. It didn't stop. As my heart raced, my arms and legs felt like dead weights. I became increasingly disoriented, gasped for air, and felt a crushing tightness within my skull. Transported by a friend to my apartment, I collapsed to the ground of my apartment building lobby and clutched the leg of a complete stranger who had been asking if I was "ok." While lying upon the ground, my left cheek pressed against her thigh, the floor began to go black. An onlooker called 911.

Riding in the ambulance, its sirens wailing down Chicago's Michigan Avenue, I prepared myself mentally for the end. With an IV jammed into my arm and defibrillator pads hastily applied to my chest, I reached for the hand of the paramedic who sat beside me for reassurance. I recited a prayer over and over again in my head and took comfort in the fact that my family would not have to witness this experience. When we arrived at the ER, I immediately found myself under the rapid fire examination of many doctors and nurses who surrounded my gurney and rushed to stabilize my heart rhythm. After about 15 more minutes in the ER, my life threatening heart rhythm spontaneously returned to normal. A day that began as typically as any other ended with me fearing for my life in a hospital bed.