From a mother's heart lives are saved
In November 2006 Tom and Cyndie Johnson were on holiday with their daughters, Desiree and Aubree, and son, Jordan. There in the hotel room, while peacefully sleeping, 15-year-old Jordan experienced sudden cardiac arrest. Within minutes their handsome, healthy, athletic boy was gone. Five months later Tom would die when a drunk driver hit his and Cyndie’s motorcycle while they traveled in Mexico.
I’m in awe that Cyndie had the strength to not only get out of bed every day after such profound loss but to be dedicated to honoring Jordan and Tom’s lives with her actions.
On Aug. 27, 2011, her Straight From the Heart Foundation held the first free Youth Heart Screening at Post Falls High School. Unspoken at the time Cyndie scheduled that first event was that it would have been Jordan’s 20th birthday. Seven years after that first screening, there’s no doubt lives have been saved. Jordan Johnson would now be 26 years old. I’m quite sure that Cyndie’s son is looking down from Heaven with a smile and no small amount of pride at the passion and dedication of his mother to spare other mothers the heartbreak she endured.
Sudden cardiac arrest in teens isn’t limited to athletes and Cyndie’s inspired goal is to provide the specialized screening at no cost to area youth.
On Saturday at the Boys and Girls Club in Coeur d’Alene there will be a free screening from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Contact info@straightfromtheheart.us if you’d like to schedule a free screening for a young person ages 14-24.
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When you’re hot, you’re hot. Terry Werner rolled two big games of 286 and 299 earlier this month. On Friday in the Boomer League at River City Lanes, Terry rolled his second career 300 game and combined with 241 and 279 games came up big with his first 800 series of 821.
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Things to Do: Friday is the Battle of the Badges with the Coeur d’Alene Police hockey team and challengers from the Spokane Police hockey team at Frontier Arena. Puck drops at 6:30 p.m. 100 percent of proceeds benefit the Sgt. Greg Moore K27 Memorial.
Also the 2nd Friday Art Walk returns for the season in downtown Coeur d’Alene from 5-8 p.m.
Saturday is the Coeur d’Alene Chamber’s Annual Awesome Auction at the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel, 5-9 p.m., for info: 208-664-3194. Also on Saturday is the Hayden Chamber’s Annual Awards and North Idaho Culinary Competition at Stan Craft Boats, 5:30 to 9 p.m., call 208-762-1185.
On Sunday Stateline Speedway opens the season with Mud Drags, starting at 12:30 p.m. We should have plenty of mud thanks to this soggy spring weather. www.raceidaho.com
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Happy Birthday today to Lonna Duncan, Idella Mansfield, David Bond, Karen Zande, Doreen Johnson, Karen Reagan (60!) and DiAnna Macklin. Big wishes tomorrow to Dorothy Morey (90!), Mallary Juarez, Connie Munk, Russell Heitstuman and Kevin Reed and on Friday to Chloe Hudson, Angelina Pischner, Evalyn Adams, Kathy Behm and Corbin Messina. On Saturday Phil Damiano, Mark Robitaille, Stacey Mann, Dana Shapland, Ron Washburn and Bill Gough, aka the One Man Band, put on their party hats. April 15 birthdays mean another trip around the sun for Betsy Hawkins, Brian Walker, Denise Edmonds, Ian Waltz, Doug Harms, Dave Holmes, Clay Ownbey, Caroline Crollard (80!), Tori Gray, Randy Teall (70!), Kara Hicks and Judy Donner. Monday birthday wishes to JD Dickinson, Leslie Gourley, Kevin Johnson, Kay Riplinger, Chris LaVoie and Tom Fisher. On Tuesday Pat Krug, Jaime Meyer, Andre Ney, Dot Rook, Betty Stone, Blythe Templin, Jonna Harris-Bowman, Sheila McDaniel, Curtis Ormesher and Peggy Fairfield will celebrate.
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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.