© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Screening Hearts In Philadelphia, Pa.

Phyllis and Darren Sudman, founders of Simon's Fund.
Courtesy of Simon's Fund
Phyllis and Darren Sudman, founders of Simon's Fund.

Phyllis and Darren Sudman started in 2005, after their 3-month-old son Simon died in his sleep. They learned later that Simon had an undetected silent heart condition.

Today, Simon's Fund provides free heart screenings to children throughout the Philadelphia area to prevent other families from experiencing the same tragedy.

Because of Simon's Fund, nearly 5,000 students have been screened and 43 have discovered unknown, potentially-fatal heart conditions. The Fund has also sponsored medical research projects, hosted awareness events and advocated legislation that raises awareness of warning signs of sudden cardiac arrest.

Heather Brucker is a friend of the Sudmans. She listens to and heard about Participation Nation via Twitter.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Heather Brucker
KCUR prides ourselves on bringing local journalism to the public without a paywall — ever.

Our reporting will always be free for you to read. But it's not free to produce.

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations to keep operating and trying new things. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.