Parents of teen who died after sudden cardiac arrest want to bring heart screening to young athletes

A go-getter, respectful, kind and always smiling. That's how the people who knew Josh Oguns remember him.

And while he had many achievements, above anything else, the Canberra teenager was known for his love of sport.

"He was very committed to it; he would train and train hard. He was a really disciplined athlete," his mother, Taiye Oguns, said.

His main passion was soccer, but he had also been involved in touch football, athletics, martial arts and basketball.

What started as a normal day of Saturday sport in July last year ended in tragedy.

After playing soccer earlier in the day, Josh suffered a sudden cardiac arrest during a basketball game.

He died 13 days later at just 14 years old.

"We miss him a lot," Ms Oguns said.

"Not having him in that space is really quite difficult but we are taking one day at a time."

Cardiac screening encouraged

During efforts to save his life, doctors discovered Josh had an undiagnosed heart condition: an abnormal blood supply to the left side of his heart.

"There was no sign, no sign whatsoever," Josh's father, Joe Oguns, said.

"No young person should die from doing what they love."

Josh's parents are now on a mission to help make sure no other family experiences the same pain.

They've established a charity, Josh4Hearts Foundation, dedicated to keeping young athletes safe from sudden cardiac arrest.

"We are hoping that this can be an opportunity to raise awareness and help other families [so] hopefully they will not have to go through what we have had to endure," Ms Oguns said.

The first aim of the foundation is to encourage sporting clubs and bodies to refer their young players for cardiac screening.

The foundation's broader aim is to support local communities and sporting clubs to respond effectively to sudden cardiac arrest during games and training.

"Every single second counts because the first 3 minutes are the most critical time … if you are waiting for the ambulance to arrive, it's probably too late," Mr Oguns said.

'Really ambitious venture'

While young athletes are often considered the healthiest in society, one in 300 carry a chance of having a potentially dangerous underlying heart condition, according to Macquarie University associate professor Hari Raju.

He said while many professional sporting codes screened their players for potential heart problems, the same couldn't be said about amateur sport.

"This is a really ambitious venture in the Australian landscape."

He said while it was "rare" for an athlete to suffer from sudden cardiac arrest, significant work needed to be done to limit the risk.

"If somebody collapses, outside the context of a head injury, then you should assume that that individual has had a cardiac arrest," he said.

"Individual sporting clubs investing in basic life support training for all of their players and all of their coaches … that's a really simple intervention."

Dr Raju said there had been some high-profile instances of sudden cardiac arrest in sport, including soccer player Christian Eriksen who suffered an on-field cardiac arrest.

"The kind of thing we are looking at here is to try and ensure that amateur athletes have access to a similar level of support," he said.

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