PROFILE: Christy Marshall Silva ’96
Matters of the Heart An alumna finds inspiration in the midst of tragedy.
Christy Marshall Silva ’96 had never heard of Sudden Cardiac Arrest when it unexpectedly claimed the life of her 7-year-old son Aidan in 2010. “I always knew he was one in a million,” she said of Aidan. “I just didn’t realize he was actually one in 7,000 kids that die from Sudden Cardiac Arrest every year.” Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), a condition where the heart’s electrical system suddenly malfunctions and disrupts its normal rhythm, is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Shocked that her seemingly healthy son, who had just gotten a clean bill of health from his physician six weeks earlier, 38
THE SCRANTON JOURN A L
could pass so quickly without warning, Silva began obsessively researching SCA. “I couldn’t wrap my mind around how he could be here one minute and not the next,” she said.
Finding Her Way Silva learned everything she could about SCA. She learned that the American Heart Association cites SCA as the number one killer of high school athletes on school grounds. She learned that many of the conditions that cause SCA can be detected by an electrocardiogram (EKG), a painless, non-invasive test, and that
