South Windsor High School junior London King lives and breathes basketball.
“I don't miss free throws, but I’m a three-point shooter all day,” said King. “Yeah, that's what I do best.”
King has big dreams: College basketball then onto the NBA. He has a whole life ahead of him - as he should, he’s only 16. But the goal this time last year was a whole lot simpler.
“Fifth grade, I had my first heart attack,” said King. His second came five years later.
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“I was running on the court, I felt dizzy and I collapsed,” said King. The then-15 year-old collapsed on the court at a Northwest Catholic preseason workout.
“I got the call from the school nurse at Northwest,” said Haley King, London’s mom. “It's just the worst phone call you could expect.”
Worse still, at the time, they didn't know what was wrong. Both incidents at 10 years old, and at 15, were diagnosed as seizures.
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It wasn't until that Northwest Catholic school nurse suggested King get his heart checked that they learned what was really going on.
“Once we asked the children's hospital to give him an EKG, that was the first sign that we saw, he had a life-threatening heart arrhythmia and that started everything” said Haley King.
At 15 years old, London was looking at heart surgery.
“It was really nerve-wracking to hear that,” said London. “I was really scared...I had the option to not have it, but I would never be able to play again.”
Early on in the process, London's mind was still on basketball, but his parents knew how close they were to losing their son altogether.
“It's just not something that a 15 year old, you know, a little 10 year old is going to have heart attacks,” said Haley.
London had surgery to implant a defibrillator in March of 2022. In the months that followed, the lefty couldn't use his left arm. He transferred schools from basketball powerhouse Northwest Catholic to his hometown public school, South Windsor. His mind was still on basketball, but there was something else, too.
“I want to play as much as I can,” said London. “If I never got surgery it would have been my last time to play on that court in September so it kind of opened my eyes.”
So they set out to make a difference starting "London’s Legacy." On the one hand, raising money, on the other, raising awareness so parents know what questions to ask.
“If London had gotten an EKG for any of the sports physicals that are mandatory, we would have caught this,” said Haley.
In Connecticut, preventative EKGs aren't required as part of mandatory sports physicals. But the CIAC, the governing body for high school sports in the state, said it will continue to review that feasibility with its medical board.
“This is one where we're just saying lets sort of ignite a bit of a conversation about asking further questions,” said Lydelle King, London’s dad. “And the EKG is something that's actionable. It's an actionable item where we can say, 'why isn't this included?' Right? Because it can save lives and they can help people.”
So can London’s story.
“For him to rise to the occasion, and to advocate for young athletes and to pay it forward for that to now be his mission. As a parent, I couldn't be more proud,” said London.
After all, London has big dreams and now they're even bigger than basketball.
“He out there fighting through everything, fighting through fear every day. He never knows what's going to happen,” said Haley. “And in that smile. That smile says it all.”
In the name of London’s Legacy, the Kings also hope to sponsor CPR training and work with the Connecticut-based “In a Heartbeat” Foundation to supply more AEDs to schools.
