KATY, Texas – For more than a decade, KPRC 2 and Bill Spencer have partnered with the Cody Stephens Foundation to offer life-saving heart screenings that are free of charge.
Now, the Katy Independent School District is launching a new program with the foundation’s help to test student-athletes and staff for hidden heart defects.
The foundation is providing the district with the machines. Spencer says the screenings are critical to help save lives.
The Cody Stephens Go Big or Go Home Memorial Foundation was founded by Scott Stephens in memory of his beloved son, Cody Stephens, who died from an undetected heart condition just weeks before graduation from Crosby High School.
Under the new program announced by Katy ISD on Thursday, the district will begin testing all student-athletes in middle and high school who want to be tested for hidden heart defects, a normal school sports exam just can’t identify.
The district will also give these in-depth heart screenings to all staff and teachers who wish to have one.
The idea is to find hidden heart defects that go undetected and can kill you without warning.
Through this program, which will begin in the spring of 2024, the district will test teachers, staff and student-athletes using the electrocardiogram machine, a device that can detect what is going on inside a person’s heart and can detect abnormalities that can kill.
As for our next free heart screening, The Cody Stephens Foundation and KPRC2 will be offering the next free teen heart screen on January 20th in Missouri City at the Missouri City Recreation Center and Tennis Courts on January 20th.
To sign up for the screening, click here.
For more information on the program, go to https://www.codystephensfoundation.org/.