Reggie Lewis' death shocked sports fans in 1993, but the heart condition that led to the 27-year-old's demise, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) -- an abnormal thickening of the heart -- is a common cause of sudden death in young athletes.
His mother, Inez Ritch, 62, is promoting a unique study Saturday at the Maryland High School Track and Field Championships at Morgan State in Baltimore. Doctors from Johns Hopkins Hospital plan to perform free cardiac screenings on 1,000 athletes.
Before Lewis played basketball with Northeastern and the Boston Celtics, he played at Dunbar High in Baltimore.
As with many young athletes from inner cities, his heart condition went under-diagnosed, despite a family history of heart disease.
"Reggie had a (heart) murmur as a child," Ritch said. "The doctors always said he would outgrow it. We never knew he was having a problem because he was always the picture of health. ... It is a worthwhile cause to have a screening, because there are so many young people in Baltimore who cannot afford health insurance."
Theodore Abraham, a cardiologist, assistant professor of medicine and director of Johns Hopkins' Heart Hype program, said he hopes the data from the screening, which he said is the largest of its kind, will lead to other young athletes heeding the warning signs of cardiac abnormalities.
"Athletes should not pass out and think nothing of it," Abraham said. "Minor differences have to arouse suspicion, and then we can test those people on a scaled-down approach."
The likelihood of someone having HCM is about one in 500, but the rate for blacks is two to three times higher that of whites. Undetected, the disease can be particularly fatal in young athletes.
Three years before Lewis died, Hank Gathers, 23, of Loyola Marymount collapsed during a college basketball game and died shortly after. Last fall, Ryan Shay, 28, who was diagnosed with an enlarged heart when he was 14, died after collapsing 5 miles into the U.S. Olympic men's marathon trials.
"When these events happen, they get two days' worth of coverage until the next 18-year-old dies," Abraham said. "In the greater Baltimore area, we want to start a systematic program of testing."
While today's technology is too late to help Lewis, it has already helped his 15-year-old son, Reginald Morris Lewis, who was a baby when his father died. He also has HCM, but with early diagnosis, he is being treated with an implantable defibrillator and a pacemaker, Ritch said.
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