Emporia teen survives heart attack, inspires law change

TOPEKA ( KSNT ) – After surviving a heart attack during a basketball game, an Emporia teen’s story helped inspire a change in state law.

Reagan Herrman and her mom, Amanda, were all smiles at a Monday night soccer practice, but it was just over a year ago they had the scare of a lifetime.

During the 2023 Sunflower State Games, then 13-year-old Reagan collapsed while playing in a basketball game at Washburn University.

“I walked halfway to the back of the bench, came back, sat down,” Reagan said. “I don’t remember anything from there.”

Amanda said there are no words to describe what it was like watching from the stands.

“I hear someone scream my name and by the time I got down to her on the floor she was already purple and she was not breathing and her heart had completely stopped,” Amanda said.

Reagan and her mom say she was unconscious for four minutes and that she wouldn’t be here today without an automated external defibrillator (AED) being nearby and easily accessible.

“We had no idea what had just happened,” Amanda said. “She was a healthy, healthy girl before this.”

Reagan was diagnosed with a rare heart condition called catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT). It kept her on the bench for months, but she’s slowly been able to get back to joining her teammates.

“It definitely was something that was hard for me to process because I’m built around sports so it was just never something that I was used to not playing,” Reagan said.

The experience motivated the Herrman’s to advocate for better training among school personnel, as well as better access to AED’s in schools. Reagan’s story was instrumental in passing a Kansas law that does just that.

“Every school should have AED’s, should have a plan of exactly what should happen so we’re safe basically,” Reagan said.

Amanda says the new law requires an AED to be available within a three-minute walk anywhere in a school, among other changes.

“At the beginning of every school year they’re gonna have to do a run through with all the teachers and staff about the crisis drills,” Amanda said.

Amanda says the ADAM Project is an organization devoted to helping communities push for this type of change and that they played a big role in the new Kansas law.

Reagan is having a surgery next week with her sights set on playing sports at full speed again.

“I have a village that supports me, and I think thank them truly. I like to say I couldn’t get through without them,” Reagan said.

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