Challis Blum

Challis’ Story

She was the picture of health: a beautiful, caring, fun eighteen-year-old college student when she was found dead by a public safety officer. Challis Blum had always been active and athletic. During high school she had loved to play flag football, and always enjoyed swimming. Challis learned to lifeguard, wanting to help others enjoy the water as she did.  She also loved music and played baritone in the school band and hand bells in the bell choir.  At home she spent time playing the piano for us.

When Challis moved to a Christian college in Angwin, California, she surprised us all by deciding to take aviation as a major instead of interior decorating as she had planned on. What didn’t surprise us was her joining the volunteer fire department where her older brother served.  She enjoyed the training and aced the physical. She took frequent shifts as a dispatcher and was at work the night she passed away.  Her brother Dan heard the emergency call to the public safety office, jumped in his car, and was there within a couple of minutes. He saw volunteers trying to resuscitate Challis and then take her by ambulance to the hospital.  Their efforts were in vain and he called to tell us that Challis was gone.

We headed up to the Napa valley to go to the hospital, but Dan informed us while on the way (thank goodness for cell phones) they had taken Challis to the coroners. We went there instead, where the cause of Challis’ death was mysterious. We were heartbroken, devastated, and left wondering what could have happened.  She was a volunteer firefighter and lifeguard with a clean bill of health. The public safety office was being treated as a possible crime scene. Was it a homicide? Eventually that was ruled out—but so was everything else! It was frustrating to have no answers, and be told we might never know the cause of death.

Two days later Kathi’s mother called from Michigan to say she would not be able to join us for Challis’ funeral; she was caring for her two little grandsons while their mother, Kathi’s sister Lori, was in intensive care.  She had been on the phone with Lori discussing the funeral when Lori fainted.  Luckily, Lori’s husband was able to resuscitate her and she was taken by ambulance to the hospital. There, she was diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome and had an ICD implanted. Like Challis, Lori was healthy and very active with two little boys. She had never had any symptoms of Long QT.

After a lot of red tape, the EKG from Challis’ firefighting physical was released to us and we learned that she had died from undiagnosed Long QT Syndrome. The EKG showed it, but it had not been recognized until Lori’s doctor reviewed it.  In her diary, Challis had written about times when she almost “passed out,” but had never told us. Several EKG’s of Kathi’s actually included the words “Long QT” in the printout, but no doctor had ever mentioned it.

Positive diagnosis of Challis’ brother Dan soon followed. He received his ICD a couple months after his sister’s death. Genetic testing revealed that Dan’s son Nicholas also has Long QT.  He is now five years old and doing well on medication. Violet, his new baby sister born this February was put on a beta-blocker, as her EKG is “suspicious.”

Losing a child so suddenly is the hardest thing we’ve ever experienced. Challis was a sweet heart and fun to be around. When she graduated from high school, her classmates gave her the Caring Heart Award. Now we distribute SADS Foundation materials to school nurses, paramedics, doctors, pharmacists, teachers, and others hoping to give her death meaning by saving the lives of other children.

Thank you for supporting the SADS Foundation,

Kathi and Scott Blum