Teen dies nearly a month after collapsing during high school basketball game

‘We need more advocates for sudden cardiac arrest awareness and prevention’

Preston Settles, 15 (Family handout / Facebook)

A teenager who collapsed during a high school basketball game last month has now died, according to his family.

15-year-old Preston Settles collapsed and stopped breathing during a high school basketball game in North Andover, Massachusetts, on 5 February.

His family said in a statement that Preston died on Sunday night at Boston Children’s Hospital, nearly a month after his collapse.

It came while he was playing for the Brooks School’s basketball team.

His family said CPR was performed and he was airlifted to Tufts Medical Center where he was put on life support, before being transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital.

Preston was thought to have been a victim of sudden cardiac arrest (SDC) – a condition that is among the biggest causes of deaths among youth athletes.

Issuing a statement, Smiling Hearts: The Nick Blakeley Foundation (NBF) said SDC “remains the number one killer of youth in sports”.

“It’s essential to have your child’s heart screened and to advocate in your schools, recreational parks, and any location where youth are active for proper SCA protocols and for AEDs to be readily available and all staff trained in CPR,” the charity added. “We send our condolences to the Settles family.”

Ryan Brown, a Massachusetts resident whose brother died of SCA, shared the charity’s Facebook post.

She wrote: “Unfortunately, I have to share a lot of these posts. Please stop and pay attention; another young life has been lost. We need more advocates for SCA awareness and prevention.”

Preston’s mother, Lisa Owens, toldThe Boston Globe on Monday: “He was a grinder. He worked really hard. He would just keep going and going and going. And we really admire that about him.”

She said an MRI scan had shown “devastating changes to his brain from the lack of oxygen” and that the “loving and painful” decision was taken to turn off Preston’s ventilator.

A celebration will be held on Friday, 4 March for Preston at Trinity Church in Copley Square, Boston.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.