On September 25, 2013, Jake West was at the LaPorte High School football field, the same place he spent every weekday afternoon in the fall. Jake was a junior at LaPorte, a linebacker who also played lacrosse in the spring. However, during the middle of a seemingly routine practice, after running a play Jake suddenly collapsed. Chloe James, a friend of Jake’s and an assistant to the athletic trainer, assisted in trying to help revive Jake with an AED and CPR. Unfortunately, it was too late; Jake passed away at the hospital that evening from Arrythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia, a condition that causes defects in the heart muscle and can lead to arrhythmias. Jake was only seventeen years old. He never knew he was sick; like so many others, he went through life with an undetected heart condition. His family only knew once it was too late.

I grew up in the next town over from LaPorte. Our high schools were intense rivals in every sport. Jake’s mom, Julie Schroeder, was my elementary school PE teacher, as she was for most of the kids in my school district. She’s always been known for how proud she is of her kids. She was always in the stands for Jake and his older sister, Courtney’s, events. While Julie tried to process what had happened to her son, thousands of people in Indiana, especially in communities like mine, were expressing disbelief. How could a seemingly healthy high school athlete pass away so suddenly? Were other kids at the same risk that Jake unknowingly faced? How could something like this be prevented?

In the midst of her grief, Julie was asking these same questions. Another family facing the tragedy hers had was unacceptable. Her mission in life became twofold: one, to make sure Jake’s memory lived on; two, to spare families across the country from the nightmare of losing a child. "There is no way to comprehend the loss of a child and I don't want to see another family go through what my family has gone through and will for the rest of our lives,” Julie told me. Just a month after Jake’s death, in October of 2013 they started the groundwork to form a non-profit organization, the Play for Jake Foundation was established. The goal: to provide free cardiac screenings for junior high and high school students across the country. Julie added, “After volunteering at a heart screen at Chicago Hope Academy, I knew when I left that this is what I need to bring back to LaPorte and make happen in our community. This experience was life changing once again.

So far screenings have been done at Boston Middle School, Kesling Middle School and LaPorte High School where Jake attended and they are about to announce the next school to take part in the free heart screens that the foundation provides.” Several conditions have been detected in teens, ones they would not have known about if not for Jake. The foundation has also raised substantial funds since it was started, all of which goes toward these screenings and raising awareness.

Chloe James is now a sophomore at Indiana University. She and fellow LaPorte High School alum and current IU student Sarrah Ake have made it their mission to bring awareness of sudden cardiac death to Southern Indiana. In late 2014, the Play for Jake Club was established on campus. The majority of the club’s members are LaPorte alumni who knew Jake. While most of last semester was spent getting the club off of the ground, this semester will be dedicated to fundraising and raising awareness about conditions like Jake’s. Eventually, the club would like to see screenings done in Bloomington. With the second anniversary of Jake’s death approaching, Julie is proud of the work that has been done in his name. “Knowing that we are providing these free heart screens gives us hope that other children and their families will have the opportunity to know about their child's heart health. We don't know unless they are screened. A general physical and family history is not enough,” she said. Now, with Chloe James and Sarrah Ake extending the foundation’s work to Bloomington, the dream that no child will have to die due to sudden cardiac death is one step closer to becoming reality.

If you would like more information on Jake’s story and the foundation, please visit playforjake.org.