Christina Louca has plenty of heart.
Sophomore year, life took an unexpected turn for the Seaford cheerleader and runner when she was shockingly diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, a cardiac condition that, at its worst, could cause the 16-year-old to have a heart attack.
“I never really dealt with something like this; I never had health problems in the past,” Louca told The Post.
“I was really shocked, and I was pretty nervous,” she added of the February diagnosis.
Such a frightening condition was completely out of sight and out of mind for Louca and her family, as nothing had appeared in a routine physical to indicate its presence.
Louca’s case was flagged by an EKG only because the Seaford school district offered free cardiovascular screenings for more than 200 of its student-athletes.
“Before, I didn’t really want to go. I thought, ‘I’m already healthy, I never had any problems, why should I go?’ ” Louca said.
It was at the urging of her mom, Tricia, that Christina underwent the quick, potentially life-saving test.
Louca was able to keep competing in her sports on the condition that a portable defibrillator was on site and, in May, had a catheter ablation that corrected her issue.
She’s already back doing jumps at summer cheer practice.
“I never have to worry about it again,” said Louca, a rising junior who wants to pursue nursing.
“I feel super grateful because now I’m safe. … I’m just grateful I have this opportunity to live my life.”
Efforts not in vein
Louca learned throughout the ordeal that she was one of many young athletes with a heart condition hiding in plain sight.
The EKG she had was coordinated by two local moms whose athletic sons died from similar cardiovascular conditions.
They turned pain into purpose by launching Heart Screen NY and visiting schools across Long Island to test kids at no cost.
“We’ve screened over 8,000 children,” said Karen Acompora, who lost her high school-aged son, Louis, more than two decades ago when a lacrosse ball struck the Northport native in his chest. “We have about 166 findings.”
Acompora runs Heart Screen NY with Melinda Murray-Nyack, whose son, Dominic, had a cardiovascular episode while going for a layup at Farmingdale State College — after she lost her husband to a heart attack.
“It feels like we’re doing something right if we could send a child home to their parents,” Murray-Nyack said. “But it just can’t just be us doing what we do.”
Nobody understands that better than Louca and her mom, both of whom have become major advocates for the screenings.
“It can definitely save lots of lives in the future,” Louca said.
“My story could be very common for someone else, and I feel like if they see me, who found this out, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, if she had it, I could possibly have it.”
A heartwarming cause
Louca is partnering with the Connor Kasin Memorial Foundation, named for the nearby Massapequa hockey star who died during a 2024 charity game. Connor had a heart condition he and his family were unaware of that was also undetected in physicals.
The foundation’s goal, and that of Connor’s parents, Craig and Mary, is to pass Connor’s Law in Albany, making EKGs mandatory for student-athletes in New York through a bill introduced by local assemblyman Michael Durso.
“Maybe nobody else will have to experience the death and loss as Mary and Craig experienced,” Tricia said, calling it “a new mission” to work with the family one town over.
“It’s just a couple stickers, a five-minute EKG, and it could definitely change lives and keep many lives here.”
Connor’s story deeply resonated with Christina when she heard that he was similarly unaware of the fatal arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy in his heart.
“That’s why I feel like we should spread more awareness to it,” she said, “so something like that doesn’t happen to other people.”
Louca will be speaking at a foundation gala Aug. 6, sharing her story as living proof that teenagers should get screened.
“This is a perfect example of why we need Connor’s Law. If they didn’t happen to have a test here at the school, who knows?” Craig said of Louca’s heart exam.
Connor’s mom agreed.
“The EKG works,” Mary said, “and she’s going to have a great life ahead of her.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
