Who We Play For, a non-profit organization fighting Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), held a ceremony at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High School on June 2 to celebrate the implementation of the Second Chance Act statewide and recognize formal principal Tim Cool.
Founder and Board Chair Ralph Maccarone returned to the site where his son, Rafe, died in 2007, from SCA. He was joined by family, friends and others impacted from SCA.
“It’s phenomenal what’s been accomplished over the last 18 and a half years,” Ralph said. “The Who We Play For organization has been instrumental in keeping students and student-athletes safe in the state. With this Second Chance Act going into effect July 1, we’re looking to save a bunch of kids and families from needless tragedy.”
Ralph described Rafe as someone who exhibited a great judge of character.
“The friends that he chose to hang around with have spearheaded this organization and have really dedicated their lives in this mission to his legacy,” Ralph said.
Rafe suffered SCA during soccer practice at Cocoa Beach. As CPR was performed, the school doors were locked preventing his teammates from reaching an automated external defibrillator.
Rafe died at the hospital just before his 16th birthday. Tests later revealed Rafe had a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which had about a 95% percent chance of being detected by an electrocardiogram.
Beginning with its creation in 2012, Who We Play For led the charge to pass The Second Chance Act in the Florida state legislature. The legislation was signed into law last year.
Starting July 1, high school students interested in participating in sports will be required to complete at least one ECG screening.
“I think a lot of it stems from 15- and 16-year-old kids seeing their friend and teammate die in front of them. It impacted their lives so much that they realized that they had an opportunity to make a change,” Ralph said. “When they went away to college a few years later, they realized that this wasn’t just a lightning strike. It wasn’t something that was rare. There’s definitely a public health problem and it can be solved by preventing it. That’s what they’ve chosen to do.”
Evan Ernst, executive director and founder of Who We Play For, was friends with Rafe. The two played soccer together.
“Rafe was a kid that we all grew up with. Rafe was on a lot of the same teams. We played high school soccer. We had the same pediatrician. We love Rafe,” Ernst said. “He was a fierce competitor, loyal friend and he just had a really special group in this little town. After Rafe passed away, this little group stuck together to try and make it mean something as best we can and try and change a state, national and maybe global standard care to save kids like Rafe.”
Since the organization’s creation, they’ve administered over 500,000 ECG tests. Before Who We Play For was founded, Florida ranked in the bottom half of the country in sports safety. Now Florida is the safest state in the United States.
“This is just about kids trying to get the opportunity to grow up and get the opportunity to grow up and live no matter what activity they play,” Ernst said. “What that means to me, what that means to all of us that have worked for 15 years to build the infrastructure in our state to make this possible, a generation of kids who will get to grow up.”
Cool was presented with Brevard’s Finest Award on June 2. Cool was personally affected by SCA as he was the principal when Rafe was in school and he also lost his grandson to the same condition in 2020.
“It stirs up a lot of emotions,” Cool said. “First of all, the memory of Rafe and what happened during that time and how it affected not only the school, but the whole community of Cocoa Beach and how it changed things at Cocoa Beach. I’m just so proud of all the people involved of Who We Play For over the years and picked up that torch to keep the memory of Rafe going.”
Cool remembered how the Cocoa Beach community came together following Rafe’s death, memorializing his locker and leaving a seat open at graduation. The impact of the Second Chance Act will reduce the number of kids with SCA undetected.
“Now we can make sure every kid, as many as we can, that will get screened,” Cool said. “Some of the parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters won’t have to go through losing a loved one.”
Who We Play For is staging two heart screening events in Brevard County. On June 6, it’ll be held at Viera High School. The second event is June 26 at Health First Medical Group’s NASA Blvd. office in Melbourne.
Nearly 20 years after his death, Rafe’s legacy will be felt throughout Florida.
“It’s been a journey of a lifetime, an honor of a lifetime. In the early days, it was extremely difficult, extremely painful for the crew to try to convince our parents that this made sense. That we weren’t going to go the traditional path,” Ernst said. “This was something we believed in. This was kind of a eulogy virtue, a eulogy moment. It’s been an honor of a lifetime to work on something so meaningful for the kids like Rafe across the country.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Second Chance Act a tribute to friend who died of Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Reporting by Sam Ficarro, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
