Doctors, coaches, discuss how Bronny James' cardiac arrest can be a teachable moment
Posted July 25, 2023 7:43 p.m. EDT
Updated July 25, 2023 7:52 p.m. EDT
Triangle-area doctors and sports coaches are sharing how Bronny James’ suffering a cardiac arrest provides another teachable moment.
James, 18, the son of NBA superstar LeBron James, was hospitalized after suffering cardiac arrest Monday while working out at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The younger james is now in stable condition and no longer in the ICU, according to a statement.
Saint Augustine’s University men’s basketball coach Chucky Brown said Monday’s incident has him and other coaches thinking twice about how hard they push their athletes.
“I think it’s a scary thing, and knowing a guy like that has pretty unlimited resources and for that to happen to him is like, ‘Hey, let’s think about what we’re doing here and let’s think about how hard we push these athletes because we do push them,’” Brown said.
Duke University Head of Cardiology Dr. Manesh Patel said doctors are pushing to find out more about athletes and their hearts.
“There’s a lot of athletes who have a lot of functional ability, and within them, very infrequently, somebody has one of these things happen,” Patel said.
On Jan. 2, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin attempted to tackle Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins on a routine play. In April, doctors cleared Hamlin to resume playing 4.5 months after going into cardiac arrest and having to be resuscitated on the field during the game in Cincinnati.
“[The] bottomline is you [have to] listen to your body, and if you [aren’t] feeling it, you [aren’t] feeling it,” Brown said.
Patel said doctors are working to find out if there are ways to detect underlying conditions in athletes that may lead to an event like cardiac arrest.
“Thankfully, it’s a rare occurrence, but it’s not a never occurrence as we’ve seen,” Patel said.
Patel said his colleagues are researching ways to improve cardiac arrest survival rates. The goal is to have more patients with cardiac arrest treated with bystander CPR and early defibrillation.
“We’re looking to figure out faster ways in the state of North Carolina with grants from the American Heart Association to get people CPR at a faster rate in different communities,” Patel said.
UNC Health cardiologist Dr. Christopher Kelly said there are two possibilities for what happened to Bronny James:
- An undiagnosed heart problem that manifests during exercise and that can cause cardiac arrest.
- Something that happens to a healthy person with no pre-existing heart problems on the court, similar to what happened to Hamlin on the field. Hamlin was hit in the chest hard enough and at the wrong time.
“We know nothing about what happened, unfortunately, with Mr. James, but we’re hopeful that he has a very fast recovery,” Kelly said. “And, we hope that this also spurs a discussion about keeping athletes safe.”
Patel echoed Kelly’s sentiments about might have happened to James.
“I won’t speculate what’s going on with him, but my general reaction is it’s a teachable moment,” Patel said. “Just like the Damar Hamlin [incident] was a teachable moment.
“A moment to let us think about, ‘How do we better teach our kids and our communities to do CPR to resuscitate people?’ Because, every day, there are thousands of cardiac arrests happening.”
Kelly recommended everyone playing sports to undergo a history and physical with their pediatrician or doctor.
