Rotary Screenings Help Local Athletes Aware of Heart Health

Despite attending rival schools, Alex Matheny and Logan Thompson are good friends with plenty in common.

Logan is a junior at Mattoon High School, and Alex is a junior at Charleston High School. Both play baseball for their respective school, and despite facing off during the school year, they are teammates on the Mattoon Hit-Men travel team.

In November, both athletes learned they have cardiologic abnormalities after being examined through the Rotary High School Athletic Heart Screening program offered at Sarah Bush Lincoln. Now, the athletes and their families are aware and prepared for what that may mean in the future.

Alex is a three-sport athlete at CHS, playing football, basketball and baseball year-round, with the Mattoon Hit-Men season occupying the summer. “I always felt tired in class, and sometimes I had trouble focusing because of that,” Alex said. “We thought it was from playing sports all the time.”

His mother, Cathy Matheny, who is a registered respiratory therapist in the SBL Heart Center, decided it would be a smart idea to have Alex undergo a free heart screening when there was an opportunity through the Rotary screening program. “My husband has a congenital heart defect, and my other children also did the screenings,” she explained.

The screenings revealed that Alex had low ferritin levels. Ferritin is a protein that stores iron in the body. Iron is crucial for making hemoglobin, which helps carry oxygen through the blood. Low ferritin levels can lead to fatigue, headaches, dizziness, weakness and difficulty concentrating.

Since learning of Alex’s low ferritin levels, he received an infusion and is doing much better. “I can think a lot clearer and focus more in class, and I don’t feel as tired as I used to,” he said. “I’m happy this screening is available and this was discovered now before it could get worse.”

Unlike Alex, Logan never had any symptoms to suggest that there was anything wrong. “I’ve always been in pretty good physical condition, and I’ve never had any issues,” Logan said.

Jamie Thompson, Logan’s mother who is an informatics specialist in SBL Human Resources, explained that people close to him had experiences prior to the screenings that influenced him to sign up for it.

“Logan has a friend who is around the same age and underwent open heart surgery because of a heart condition,” she said. “His little brother was also diagnosed with heart murmurs, so we wanted to get Logan screened.”

At the screening in November, Logan’s electrocardiogram (EKG) showed abnormal results. Because of this, Logan wore a heart monitor for 48 hours and underwent an echocardiogram. 

The monitor and echocardiogram revealed abnormalities with Logan’s heart, but they are nothing severe. They don’t need to take any action now, but it is something that the family has to keep an eye on in the future.

“I’m very grateful that this screening is an option,” Logan said. “Especially after seeing what happened to my friend, I’m glad that this was discovered now so we know about it in the future.”

Free heart screenings are being held from 8 am to noon on Saturday, March 1, at the Heart Center at Sarah Bush Lincoln (Entrance H). The screenings are available to area high school athletes between 15 and 17 years old.

The deadline to sign up is Friday, February 28. For more information, visit the Rotary Heart Screen page . The registration forms to sign up are available on the webpage.