Adam Walter Wilkens

Our incredibly sweet Adam died unexpectedly March 7, 2019 in his sleep at the age of 36. He was a very healthy and active man and had no symptoms. He leaves such a gaping hole in this life to all those who met and loved him especially myself, his boys (ages 4 and 7), his family, his in-laws, and all his co-workers/friends. It has been a journey to try to find out what has happened to him as I had heard several times that he was “perfect”.

As I sat in my office one day, I had an overwhelming feeling to call the hospital that Adam had gone to 11 years prior during an accident to see if they had an EKG. They did. They sent it to me and I brought it with to the pediatric EP who I had made appointments with for our boys after Adam’s sudden death. Dr. Burton took 2 seconds to identify that Adam likely had Brugada syndrome. This has ignited additional work-ups including genetics with a genetic variant in SNCA-10 gene that has been previously linked to Brugada and a referral to Dr. Ackerman. There are several tests that still need to be done including molecular autopsy to confirm Brugada diagnosis, which will then determine future testing for our sweet boys.

To have loved Adam and lost him, has shattered me and our boys beyond pieces but we are passionate in finding the cause and to bring Brugada awareness.