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DECEMBER 2019 | FRONTDOORS MEDIA 37 DECEMBER 2019 | FRONTDOORS MEDIA 37 One million hearts and counting It wasn’t supposed to happen. Sharon Bates was never supposed to receive that phone call. Her son, Anthony, was a healthy 20 year old living his dream. In 1999, he had been recruited to play football for Kansas State University. On a sunny July day a year later, he was returning to his apartment after working out in the weight room when he passed out at the wheel, his car careening into a tree. On their arrival, the paramedics extricated him, discovering more than his injuries from the accident. Anthony’s heart was in severe distress. An emergency room ultrasound revealed an enlarged and damaged heart. By the time Sharon received the call and got on the first plane out of Phoenix, Anthony’s prognosis was dire. He was gone before his mother reached him. Anthony had no prior indication of heart issues and no family history. “How could a boy who had received 25 sports physicals in his lifetime have a heart condition?” Sharon asked everyone. Her questions were answered with a sad truth: Young Americans with no risk factors are never screened for cardiac issues. Every year, 12,000 children experience a sudden cardiac arrest. That’s 30 kids a day, and every three days it’s a high school athlete. But only one in 200 people suffer from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Anthony was that one. Sharon vowed that her son’s death would not be in vain. In 2001, she created the Anthony Bates Foundation with a two-fold mission. The first is to screen as many young athletes as possible so that ENSURING THE BEATS GO ON A 2ND ACT { helping is healing } Judy Pearson | Contributing Writer Sharon Bates started the Anthony Bates Foundation in an effort to spare other parents the heartbreak of losing a child to an undiagnosed cardiac malady. She is shown at right with her son, Anthony.