What’s one thing that you love to do? Is it reading awesome YA novels? Playing the violin until your fingers sting? Smashing a tennis ball with your racket while the crowd goes wild? Well, imagine if that one thing could literally kill you, and you had no choice but to stop doing it. How would you feel? How could you get over that sense of loss?
That’s exactly what happens to Abby, the protagonist and star swimmer of Amy Fellner Dominy’s latest novel, A MATTER OF HEART --- she discovers she has a heart condition called HCM and must cease competing if she wants to live. Below, Amy talks about the inspiration for her story, and what you can do to learn more about HCM.
Back to school means all kinds of things. For my kids, it always meant stick out your tongue, breathe deep for the stethoscope and stand on the scale.
Yep --- the dreaded back-to-school physical. Every September it was mandatory so they could play sports in high school. Even if you’ve been through it yourself, there’s probably one test you haven’t taken: an echocardiogram. An echo is a ten minute, painless heart test, and it’s the best way to determine if you have a hidden heart condition like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM.) Sometimes called an “enlarged heart,” HCM is the number one cause of sudden death in teen athletes.
I didn’t know about this when I was bringing my kids in for their physicals, not until I met Sharon Bates. Her son, Anthony, was a football player who went to the same high school as my kids. When Anthony was 20, he died of HCM. Now, Sharon runs a foundation and brings heart tests to high schools so kids everywhere can get echocardiograms to be sure they have healthy hearts. I had my kids tested and while I did, I kept thinking what it would be like for a teen athlete to discover they had this disease. That they could never compete again.
This was the inspiration for A MATTER OF HEART. It’s the story of a high school swimmer, Abby, who is only three weeks from competing in the Olympic trials when she discovers she has HCM. If she swims, she could die.
But if she can’t swim, then what is she living for?
It’s heart-breaking --- literally! What would you do if you felt perfectly healthy and yet you were told you couldn’t do the one thing you’re really good at? The one thing you love most?
That’s the story behind A Matter of Heart.
Student athletes are amazing people. Talented. Motivated. Determined. Willing to make so many sacrifices in order to play a sport and also keep up their grades and social lives. It’s in honor of student athletes like Anthony Bates, like my kids, like you…that I’m donating a portion of sales to www.anthonybates.orgto help bring heart tests to more high schools. If you’re an athlete and you haven’t been tested, ask your parents and tell them about the website above.
To read more or order your copy of the book, visit www.amydominy.com.
Amy Fellner Dominy is the author of teen and tween novels including A Matter of Heart (2015), OyMG, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Teens 2012, and Audition & Subtraction, a Bank Street’s “Best Children’s Books of the Year.” A former advertising copywriter, Amy earned an MFA in playwriting in 2004. Her plays for adults and children have been staged across the country. Amy lives with her family in Phoenix, Arizona.
