201905.14
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Dana Hills High student is alive thanks to woman whose daughter died during cross-country track meet

by in News

DANA POINT — Every day for the first 14 years of her life, Ali Aga would lie down to sleep to the sound of her heart pounding.

Only recently has the now-15-year-old Dana Hills High School freshman gotten used to the sound and feeling of just hearing her breath.

“Now that I’m totally fixed, I don’t feel anything,” Ali said of her heart.

Ali is fixed thanks to the efforts of her Dana Hills High School tennis coach; her mother, Tina Aga; her doctors; but mostly because of Gail Myers.

Myers’ 14 -year-old daughter, Megan Myers, was running in a Dana Hills cross-country meet at Laguna Niguel Regional Park in 2007 when she stopped abruptly and told her mother she wasn’t feeling well.

As the pair walked to their car, Megan collapsed, unconscious. Her coach, a former firefighter, performed CPR but by the time an ambulance arrived, it was too late. Megan Myers died an hour later.

  • Mothers Tina Aga, left, and Gail Myers meet while volunteering at a heart screening clinic at Dana Hills High School on Monday, May 13, 2019. Aga’s daughter Ali, 15, back left, with her dad John, was saved last year when a voluntary test caught a potentially fatal heart problem. Myers’ daughter Megan died in 2007 of Sudden Cardiac Arrest at age 14 during a track meet. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Heartfelt volunteer Darlene Horvath puts out a sign advertising heart screenings at Dana Hills High School on Monday, May 13, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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  • Six-year-old Nora Garfinkle gets screened by Heartfelt volunteer Shannon Stack during a heart clinic at Dana Hills High School on Monday, May 13, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Six-year-old Nora Garfinkle gives a thumbs-up during a heart-screening by the nonprofit organization Heartfelt at Dana Hills High School on Monday, May 13, 2019.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Holly Morrell, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Heartfelt, wears a necklace describing her journey as a heart patient. She is recovering from her most recent heart-related surgery. She was sponsoring a heart-screening clinic at Dana Hills High School on Monday, May 13, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Mothers Tina Aga, left, and Gail Myers meet while volunteering at a heart screening clinic at Dana Hills High School on Monday, May 13, 2019. Aga’s daughter Ali, 15, was saved last year when a voluntary test caught a potentially fatal heart problem. Myers’ daughter Megan died in 2007 of Sudden Cardiac Arrest at age 14 during a track meet. Heartfelt founder Holly Morrell, who sponsored the event, is at right.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Heartfelt founder Holly Morrell, right, celebrates her nonprofit’s 50,000th screening with twins Jack and Dan Gunderson, 15, and their dad John at Dana Hills High School on Monday, May 13, 2019. They all were heart screened. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • A screen image of an echocardiogram during the Heartfelt clinic at Dana Hills High School on Monday, May 13, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

  • Heartfelt founder Holly Morrell celebrates her nonprofit’s 50,000th screening at Dana Hills High School where she was testing people on Monday, May 13, 2019. She says the screenings have saved hundreds of lives. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Immediately following the tragedy, Gail Myers launched a campaign to push for annual heart screenings at Dana Hills and other local high schools.

Myers learned of Holly Morrell, who founded Heartfelt Cardiac Projects, a nonprofit dedicated to detecting risk factors for sudden cardiac arrest. The two partnered and in 2008, Dana Hills High School held its first heart screening.

On Monday, Myers met Tina Aga and her daughter for the first time, when the annual screening returned to Dana Hills.

“It was heartbreaking and memorable — if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be here today,” Ali said, embracing Myers. “She had a daughter my age pass away. No one was there for her. I’m grateful she was here for me and now for so many other kids.”

When Ali went for her screening last year, it was just something she was doing because her coach had sent an email to her mother. Her 12-year-old brother went along, too.

A few days later, Tina Aga got a call from Children’s Hospital of Orange County, saying a cardiologist had read Ali’s test results and she needed to be seen immediately.

“We were on the San Clemente pier and my mom sounded really in shock and confused,” Ali said. “I was totally chill because my mom said they needed to see me but it was probably a mistake.”

But, when Ali and her mother arrived at CHOC, doctors explained that she had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome — a condition in which there is an extra electrical pathway in the heart.

“They showed me her heart (rate) and what a normal one would look like,” said Tina Aga. “A family doctor would read it as normal. It was just a hairline different. She was born with more electric wiring in her heart. When it gets going, it can’t stop. Her heart rate would go really fast and she didn’t know it wasn’t normal.”

Ali and her mother were told WPW either results in sudden cardiac arrest or in fainting. Doctors said they wouldn’t know which her situation was until they performed surgery on her.

Four days later, Ali underwent a 10-hour heart surgery. “It was supposed to be three hours but ended up at 10 and they still didn’t get all of it,” her mother said.

Ali ended up in CHOC’s intensive care unit.

“On the second day, a cardiologist came in with a radiograph of Ali’s heart and talked about framing it,” said Tina Aga. “Just as we’re about to leave the heart monitors go insane and her neck starts throbbing.”

Ali was put on heart medication. Her mother also got her an Apple Watch to monitor her heart rate.

On medication and back at school, Ali returned to playing tennis and studying. Doctors gave her tips to monitor her breathing and how to control her heart rate, if needed.

But, her heart rate soon spiked again.

That’s when Tina Aga decided it was time to see if more could be done. With the help of Dr. Anthony McCanta, who did the original surgery, she connected with Dr. James Perry at Rady’s Children Hospital-San Diego. Together, the doctors operated again.

“They found an aneurysm in her artery,” said Tina Aga. “I don’t think she would be here today if they hadn’t done the surgery together.”

For Ali, life is good now.

After a few weeks of adjusting to her new heart rate, she said, she began to experience life in new ways.

“What I knew as ‘normal’ running up stairs at the beach felt completely different after my procedure,” she said. “Now I’m totally fine and better than ever.”

Gail Myers said it was a thrill to meet Ali.

“It’s such a great success story,” she said. “I’m so glad her mom was so proactive. This just gives me something good to think about.”