Kyle’s Story

What started out as a fun day with his brother, Collin, and some friends, while visiting his father for the weekend back on January 3, 2015, turned out to be a frightening and life-altering day.  Kyle and his brother were at a YMCA with friends playing basketball when suddenly Kyle collapsed. He was later taken to the local Emergency Room where it was determined that he was dehydrated and that he should follow up with his pediatrician the next work day because his EKG results were irregular.

When Kyle’s mom took him to his pediatrician, they were referred to Nationwide Children’s in Dublin for a repeat EKG. And then things started moving quickly. Kyle and his mom spent the next day in the Heart Center for further tests – an echocardiogram and stress test. And that’s when they met Dr. Naomi Kertesz, Director of Electrophysiology and Pacing at The Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and learned that Kyle had Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) Syndrome and that he was going to be admitted to the hospital to have surgery the next day.  WPW is an abnormal electrical signal that gets to the ventricle too quickly – a condition that could result in sudden death. But there was more to Kyle’s dangerous story.   But the WPW could not be corrected through surgery and Dr. Kertesz determined that Kyle would have to have a cardioverter-defibrillator/pacemaker (ICD)

The surgery the next day revealed that Kyle had not one – but two life-threatening conditions. He also had Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, an inherited heart condition affecting fewer than one in every 100,000 children that can cause syncope (fainting), arrhythmia (abnormal rhythm of the heart), chest pain and sudden death. A follow-up MRI confirmed the diagnosis. Kyle was going to need another surgery.

Kyle then underwent surgery, two days after the first surgery, for placement of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator/pacemaker (ICD).

A very important part of Kyle’s story is his love for sports – but especially for golf. Knowing that for the rest of his life he would not be able to play contact sports, basketball, run, do heavy weightlifting or strenuous workouts was one thing. But the thought of no more golf – that would be quite another.  Kyle and Dr. Kertesz were determined that would not be the case. Dr. Kertesz did everything possible with the placement of the defibrillator to make sure it would be as comfortable as possible for Kyle to continue playing golf.  “We are very thankful that he can continue his golf game, which is the sport he loves the most,” says Kyle’s mom, Nila. “Our whole family is very grateful to the cardiology department at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.”

Kyle loves to go boating, swimming, tubing, and hunting. When not doing those things he is either watching the Golf Channel or out playing. In fact, he is on the Varsity golf team at his high school. Kyle isn’t letting his heart disease get in the way of his dream to one day be a professional golfer.

Until then, Kyle is looking forward to another dream coming true – serving as a Patient Champion at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide.

http://nchflutter.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Kyle-Mitchell-edit.png

What started out as a fun day with his brother, Collin, and some friends, while visiting his father for the weekend back on January 3, 2015, turned out to be a frightening and life-altering day.  Kyle and his brother were at a YMCA with friends playing basketball when suddenly Kyle collapsed. He was later taken to the local Emergency Room where it was determined that he was dehydrated and that he should follow up with his pediatrician the next work day because his EKG results were irregular.

When Kyle’s mom took him to his pediatrician, they were referred to Nationwide Children’s in Dublin for a repeat EKG. And then things started moving quickly. Kyle and his mom spent the next day in the Heart Center for further tests – an echocardiogram and stress test. And that’s when they met Dr. Naomi Kertesz, Director of Electrophysiology and Pacing at The Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and learned that Kyle had Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) Syndrome and that he was going to be admitted to the hospital to have surgery the next day.  WPW is an abnormal electrical signal that gets to the ventricle too quickly – a condition that could result in sudden death. But there was more to Kyle’s dangerous story.   But the WPW could not be corrected through surgery and Dr. Kertesz determined that Kyle would have to have a cardioverter-defibrillator/pacemaker (ICD)

The surgery the next day revealed that Kyle had not one – but two life-threatening conditions. He also had Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, an inherited heart condition affecting fewer than one in every 100,000 children that can cause syncope (fainting), arrhythmia (abnormal rhythm of the heart), chest pain and sudden death. A follow-up MRI confirmed the diagnosis. Kyle was going to need another surgery.

Kyle then underwent surgery, two days after the first surgery, for placement of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator/pacemaker (ICD).

A very important part of Kyle’s story is his love for sports – but especially for golf. Knowing that for the rest of his life he would not be able to play contact sports, basketball, run, do heavy weightlifting or strenuous workouts was one thing. But the thought of no more golf – that would be quite another.  Kyle and Dr. Kertesz were determined that would not be the case. Dr. Kertesz did everything possible with the placement of the defibrillator to make sure it would be as comfortable as possible for Kyle to continue playing golf.  “We are very thankful that he can continue his golf game, which is the sport he loves the most,” says Kyle’s mom, Nila. “Our whole family is very grateful to the cardiology department at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.”

Kyle loves to go boating, swimming, tubing, and hunting. When not doing those things he is either watching the Golf Channel or out playing. In fact, he is on the Varsity golf team at his high school. Kyle isn’t letting his heart disease get in the way of his dream to one day be a professional golfer.

Until then, Kyle is looking forward to another dream coming true – serving as a Patient Champion at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide.

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