Teens can die of an enlarged heart with no connection to COVID vaccine

Nelson Zandbergen
Farmers Forum

RENFREW — An undiagnosed enlarged heart abruptly took the life of 15-year-old Renfrew dairy farmer Patrick van Lindenberg as he sat in a local theatre while on a date.

His devastating loss on June 20 leaves unanswered questions for his parents, Angela Field and Barend van Lindenberg. It also has the potential to worry any parent about the rare and silent cardiac risks that may be lurking, as well as wondering if the healthcare system can catch these cases earlier. Others wonder if there was a connection between the death and the COVID vaccine.

But Field said there was nothing that could have been done to identify her son’s issue in advance. “I had some of the healthiest kids around,” Field said.

She added that there was no evidence that Patrick had an enlarged heart as recently as the end of 2022 when he had a severe snowmobile accident that put him in the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. “He had every scan imaginable, and it was not there.” She believes his heart condition had to have developed sometime between February 2023 and February 2024. Patrick received the COVID vaccine in 2021.

Likewise, their family doctor also went over his medical files “from start to finish,” and found nothing, she said.

An enlarged heart “can be brought on by a virus,” she added. “The coroner is still looking into it. They said it can take up to two years for us to get the results.

“It’s a mystery, as to the how and the why, and the coroner wants to look into it. It’s slightly possible we have a family genetic predisposition for it but they won’t know that until they do further testing.”

If the COVID vaccine was a factor in his death, his enlarged heart should have “shown up within weeks or months” of getting the jab, Field observed. But doctors found nothing wrong after his accident-related stay in the hospital only a year and a half ago, she reiterated.

Having an enlarged heart, also known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, affects approximately 1 in 500 people, according to the American Heart Association. The condition doesn’t necessarily impact life expectancy, doesn’t always have symptoms, and may not develop until adolescence. It can increase the risk of a heart going into sudden cardiac arrest — or stopping.

Tragically, on rare occasions, sudden cardiac arrest connected with an undiagnosed enlarged heart — or other congenital heart condition — can suddenly strike down otherwise healthy teenagers.

Note that highly publicized cases occurred prior to the pandemic and roll out of the COVID vaccine.

• In 2019, Michigan high school basketball star Wes Leonard, 16, sank a game-winning shot. He collapsed on the court as he and his teammates celebrated the win, and died hours later in the hospital. His death was the result of an enlarged heart, according to the New York Daily News.

• In 2017, Paris Byrd, 13, passed out during a basketball tryout at her Florida school. She was declared dead after being rushed to hospital. An autopsy found she had an enlarged heart, according to local media reports.

• In 2017, Everson Guild, 14, died while lifting weights during a workout with his Michigan high school football team. The autopsy showed “a slightly enlarged heart with borderline enlargement of the left ventricular musculature,” although neither the autopsy nor toxicology tests revealed “an overt cause of death,” according to the Lansing State Journal.

• In 2016, Texas high school athlete Josh Pollard, 16, died in his sleep. He had an enlarged heart, according to autopsy results reported by local media.

• In 2014, Michigan high school star athlete Ryan Fischer, 17, died in his sleep from complications arising from an enlarged heart.

• In 2014, Gregory G. Holthaus, 18, was found dead in a University of Missouri dorm room. He was visiting the campus from Illinois. His death was attributed to sudden cardiac arrest caused by an enlarged heart, according to media reports.

• In 2012, Tanner Barton, 19, a college freshman, was found dead after falling asleep on the basement floor of a friend’s home, according to media reports. A coroner ultimately identified an enlarged heart as a significant factor in his death.

• In 2012, California high school basketball player Dylan Weinmann, 16, died in his sleep from an enlarged heart.

• In 2012, Ottawa-area hockey player Tyler Kerr, 15, suffered sudden cardiac arrest during a game at the Carp arena. He collapsed on the bench and died after being rushed to CHEO. It was later determined that he had arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, a congenital heart condition.