School Standouts: Dana Point mother on mission to save lives after daughter died in cross-country meet

DANA POINT, Calif. - On September 26, 2007, Gail Myers' life changed forever. Her daughter, Megan, a freshman at Dana Hills High School died of cardiac arrest while competing in a cross-country meet. She was just 14 years old. 

Megan, a lifelong athlete with no apparent health problems and no symptoms of illness, had been cleared to run after passing a mandatory physical to participate in high school sports. No one knew she suffered from an underlying heart condition, an inflammation of the heart muscle, a condition that could have been detected by a simple heart screening. 

Now over ten years later, while Myers will never get over the devastation of losing Megan so unexpectedly, she is trying to make a difference so her daughter’s death is not in vain. She teamed up with the non-profit, Heartfelt, which provides heart screenings at local schools. To date, they have provided thousands of screenings and saved many lives. 

Myers doesn’t know what triggered Megan’s heart to fail. She may never know — but what she does know is that she is saving lives and she thinks Megan would be proud of all the work she has done trying to prevent this tragedy from happening to another family. 

If you want more information on how can organize a heart screening at your school or community, click here. Heartfelt is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives from this nation’s number one killer, sudden cardiac death. You can help us with our “heartfelt” efforts to save lives through early detection, education, and increasing public awareness. 

If you'd like to nominate a person or program for FOX 11 School Standouts, head over to FOX11SchoolStandouts.com.