Volunteer - Founder/President (Retired)
Non-Profit established after the loss of my youngest son Travis to Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) at the age of 14. On May 20, 2005 Travis was three weeks away from graduation from the 8th grade when he collapsed at his middle school in Murrieta, CA. He had suffered a Sudden Cardiac Arrest caused by a previously undiagnosed heart condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. He was taken to Children's Hospital in San Diego by helicopter. Travis spent a total of four weeks in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. An MRI was taken to ascertain the extent of the damage to his brain. The MRI revealed massive brain cell death - Travis had gone 23 minutes without circulation. He was blind, he was completely paralyzed, he could not speak and he could not chew or swallow. Travis died a week later on June 25, 2005. I was holding him when he took his last breath. He was 14 years old. The Travis R. Roy Sudden Cardiac Arrest Fund was created in memory of Travis. Our motto reflects our mission "Raising awareness so others may survive". Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the leading cause of death in America claiming more than 325,000 lives per year (one person every two minutes). Ironically, it is the most preventable cause of death if CPR is initiated immediately and an AED is deployed to shock the heart back in to a normal rhythm. Our goal is to raise awareness about SCA, encourage people to learn CPR and to place Automated External Defibrillators (AED's) in schools and public facilities in California. To-date, we have been responsible for the placement of 228 AED's in Riverside and San Diego County schools Taught 150 people CPR and have had three "saves" (so far). We also believe that CPR should be a graduation requirement.Responsibilities include: Budgeting, marketing, public relations, grant writing, newsletters, social media, web site design/maintenance, fund raising/special events coordinator, advocacy and public speakimy.