On September 10, 2008 at 3:07 pm my wife Shawn Marie passed away from a previously undetected heart condition called Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD). In short ARVD is a genetic heart condition that causes the right ventricle of the heart to turn to fatty tissue over time and eventually lead to cardiac arrest in perfectly normal, healthy individuals – usually with little to no warning. In Shawn Marie’s case it led to her passing at the age of 35. Were there signs or symptoms of ARVD – sure there were, but all very minor and all linked together after her passing.

Shawn Marie was full of life. She had a love for kids and animals. Her love for animals led to us having 3 dogs and would have been more but I told her the poop picking responsibilities would fall to her if we got anymore dogs. Luckily that was enough to dissuade her. When asked what she wanted to be when she grew up the answer was simple – a mom. Fate was such that we were having difficulty having kids – after she passed it became clear why our “plan” was not for us to have kids. The other thing with Shawn was that once you were her friend, you were her friend for life and she would do anything for you.

Shawn and I did everything together – every weekend was an adventure for us. One of the things we both loved was going to baseball games. When we lived in West Virginia we had Sunday season tickets to the Orioles – the main reason being 3 Yankee games were part of the package. Shawn loved the Yankees – one of our dogs was named Jeter.

After Shawn passed the everyday routine of getting up and going to work was easy, the not so easy times were my free times. With Shawn – we always filled our spare time with fun stuff. I found I was having a hard time finding stuff to look forward to – my life was just a routine. Then Shawn’s cousin Jack gave me the idea to go to all the MLB ballparks in one season. This would give me stuff to look forward to while learning how to live life again. During the 2009 baseball season I accomplished the feat of getting to all 30 ballparks. I knew the travel and seeing the country would be fun – of course going to the different ballparks would be great and the sense of accomplishment was what I needed. What I didn’t expect was to meet so many wonderful people along the way that have become lifelong friends who also have been touched and inspired by hearing my story.

As the Quest to get to all 30 ballparks was winding down I was asked over and over about what’s next? I really didn’t have an answer. Then on August 21st – my official Fenway game which was ballpark #28, my story was picked up by a few local news stations in Boston and aired that night. Of the many nice emails I received after the broadcast the one that stuck out to me was from Laura who works for the Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome Foundation. Laura told me all about SADS and even though ARVD is not technically a SADS disease – its symptoms and dire consequences mirror one another.  Over the past few months since the baseball season has finished I have felt a bit lost. My life over the past summer was defined by the Quest which was all about me and my recovery. Then the 2010 MLB baseball schedule came out and for fun I worked up a schedule to get to all 30 again in 2010. But this time the Quest will not be about me and it will not be a Quest but a Mission, a Mission about spreading awareness and hopefully raising some money for the stopSADS.org foundation all in memory of Shawn Marie.

See the thing with SADS is it affects mostly young adults and kids. I have spent countless hours reading the testimonials on stopSADS.org from the families of kids who passed away from SADS. The thing with SADS is that the deaths can be prevented with awareness. The problem with SADS as with ARVD is that the symptoms are sometimes minor and many times the first symptom is death – I know all too well about that one.

So this upcoming summer I am on a Mission to help raise awareness about SADS as I travel the country again attending a game at all 30 MLB ballparks. I, with the assistance of the fine folks at stopSADS.org, have set up a memorial for Shawn Marie. My goal this summer is to raise $10,000 which seems kind of lofty but the simple math is 1,000 donations at $10 each – heck I have had 5,000 hits on this website to date so if only 1/5 of the people who have stopped here donate – then the goal will be met. And if you can’t donate but want to help – then do me a favor and send my website link to 5 people – this will be one chain letter that can truly make a difference.

I have set aside a page on this site to list all the nice people who have donated to Shawn’s memorial. If you don’t want your name listed, please mention that when you donate. I will only list names – never the amount donated. Just click the donate button at the bottom of the page and it will open up Shawn’s memorial page on stopSADS.org. When you donate the money is collected directly by the stopSADS.org foundation.

In closing I have never considered myself a “Cause” type of person. I donate to charities but like most people it’s just spare change into a bucket. When I lost Shawn I spent months saying “what if” but you can’t “what if” the past. By doing this Mission I am able to “what if” the future all in the memory of my wife – Shawn Marie. If this Mission saves just one life, than there will be one less family going thru what so many of us who are tragically linked thru these diseases have and continue to.