feb 11 2013151 four years ago joe quigley got the call that his 6yearold daughter olivia had suddenly collapsed at east boston central catholic school after doing gym class warmups running around playing ball with her firstgrade classmates you dread getting that phone call from the school i remember every word said quigley a 52yearold stayathome father by day and a bartender by night i knew it wasnt just that she fell over and hurt her leg it was something serious when quigley arrived at the school olivia was lying on the floor surrounded by emts he said the little girl who had never been ill beyond the usual coughs and colds had suffered sudden cardiac arrest at that point she wasnt even stable enough to be moved he said initially we were going to childrens hospital but they said this child wouldnt make it that far olivia who is now 10 survived because her school had a medical emergency response plan and two teachers had rushed to her side to administer cpr the little girl has a healthy heart but its electrical system is defective she has catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia or cpvt which can trigger cardiac arrest it can happen again at any time said quigley who lives with his wife cathy olivia and a 16yearold son alex in winthrop mass all you can do is be prepared for it teen fights for heart defibrillators in schools cpvt is characterized by episodes of fainting without having any structural deformities of the heart according to dr michael gewitz head of cardiology at maria fareri childrens hospital at westchester medical center in valhalla ny a lot of kids faint at one time in their life said gewitz the key is if they faint in the midst of either exercise or severe mental stress the underlying cause is the onset of fast ventricular tachycardia or arrhythmia spontaneous recovery may occur when the arrhythmia stops or it can degenerate into sudden death if cardiopulmonary resuscitation is not readily available according to the national institutes of health cpvt is highly lethal causing death in 30 percent of all individuals who have had at least one episode and 80 percent of those who have had more spells celebrities with heart problems last year massachusetts gov deval patrick signed a law that requires all schools to have medical emergency response plans an estimated 360000 americans die each year of sudden cardiac arrest according to the american heart association about 10 percent of all these events occur among people under the age of 40 it took six minutes before the emts arrived with a defibrillator and were able to revive olivia according to her father his wife joined him at the emergency room at massachusetts general hospital where their daughter went into cardiac arrest again i was basically pushing the gurney on one side and my wife was running behind when a nurse was doing chest compressions on her said quigley olivia was stabilized