Alexander Bowerson was the student-athlete who collapsed last December at Memphis High School.
Now he’s spreading awareness on prevention as his message is to other young people.
“Chest pain is not normal,” said Bowerson. “And I thought it was normal. I’ve had chest pain since middle school.”
In December 2022, the then-Memphis High School senior collapsed during wrestling practice.
“We started warming up,” Bowerson said. “I was feeling great as it was a normal day. And then I got a tight pain in my chest and probably about 10 seconds later, hit the floor, and then I was in the ambulance.”
Cheer coach, school board member, and nurse Amanda Bobcean saved his life.
She spoke with Local 4 about the intense moments in January 2023.
Since the incident, Bowerson was diagnosed and could no longer do heavy lifting, and he had to get a defibrillator.
“I have a genetic condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, often abbreviated as HCM,” Bowerson said. “And the heart condition can do many different things. So it’s actually very common, affecting typically one in 500 people.”
He is starting school at the University of Michigan in the fall and wants to become a cardiologist.
Until then, he wants to save others’ lives by encouraging them to go to Corewell Health’s next heart check event. It’s part of a program that started in 2007.
“We’ve screened over 20,000 children so far, and 227 of them have been diagnosed with a significant heart condition that could lead to sudden cardiac arrest,” said Jennifer Shea, program manager for Beaumont Student Heart Check.
In August, they want to help 250 more. Each teen meets with a cardiologist for free and gets an EKG, medical history evaluation, and cardiac physical.
“Sometimes there isn’t symptoms that help predict that there’s going to be a problem, and when you don’t have further testing beyond just listening for a murmur, you might not know that there’s an issue until it’s too late,” Shea said.
The next Beaumont Heart Check community event is at Cass Tech High School in Detroit on Aug. 5 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.