Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) claims nearly 10,000 young lives each year. On April 2, 2009, Zachary Schrah collapsed during high school football practice in Plano. Zach’s family later learned that he died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), which is a common cause of sudden cardiac arrest in young people. 

HCM is the most common cause of heart-related sudden death in people under 30. Screening is critical to prevention, as a sportsechocardiogram can detect the potential for SCA with 99 percent accuracy, and many of the problems detected can be treated or corrected.

In cooperation with Living 4 Zachary, Walgreens is raising money and coordinating sports echocardiograms for area high school students. On June 1, we started raising money at local Walgreens to offset the cost of these important living saving tests for students. For every $5,000 we raise we can test 100 student athletes for free.

The website will be utilized for both raising money and scheduling testing. In August, two Walgreens locations will schedule and conduct student testing via this website. The two testing locations are Walgreens on 500 E. Stacy Rd, Allen and 1600 Preston Rd., Plano.

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