Mother raises awareness about deadly heart condition | Health

One Bakersfield mother is fighting to make schools safer for children suffering from a heart condition that she calls "The Silent Killer."

She is donating an Automatic External Defibrillator, or AED, to Rosedale Middle School. She hopes that the donation will prevent any family from having to face the unexpected death of their child, something she had to experience firsthand.

Corinne Ruiz lost her daughter, Olivia Hoff, six years ago to Long QT, a condition that sends the victim into sudden cardiac arrest. The family didn't know she had the condition until it was too late.

"It's like living with a time bomb that is ready to go off every minute, and in our case that's what happened," Ruiz said.

Her daughter had symptoms of a heart condition including headaches and severe neck and back pain, but after a visit to the doctor nothing was found. The doctor suspected stress as the factor and sent Olivia home, but a few weeks later Ruiz found her daughter dead in her bedroom. Olivia's brother Manuel Martinez recalls his sister's death while fighting through the tears.

"I called 911. My mom lost it and I tried to follow procedure. I did CPR and tried to do whatever I could to bring her back but I couldn't," said Martinez.

Since her daughter's death Ruiz has been fighting for schools to have AEDs to assist if a person goes into cardiac arrest. She says the AED combined with CPR increase the survival rate of the victim following a heart attack.

"With everyone coming together; teachers, parents, coaches, the whole community, what a safer place this would be," said Ruiz.

Under California law, it isn't a requirement for schools to have AEDs, but Ruiz believes it should be. She said because the condition can strike at anytime schools need to be prepared the most.

"I made a promise that her death would not be in vain," Ruiz said of her daughter, "And that I as her mother would be her voice to hopefully save another child's life. If I can do that Olivia lives on."

Ruiz will present the AED to Rosedale Middle School Monday morning. The school will be the first in Kern County to have an AED. The cost for the machine runs about $2,500.

This story was written by Keisha Courtney for Eyewitness News