Burt defies odds, sets comeback

Wed., Aug. 18, 2004

Tim Booth Associated Press

SEATTLE — Twenty months after her teammates helped save her life when her heart stopped, Kayla Burt announced Tuesday that she plans to again play basketball for the University of Washington in the 2004-05 season.

“Ever since I retired, I have wanted to step on the court again,” Burt said at a news conference. “I have a dream to compete again here at the University of Washington and it’s now more than just a game to me.”

In 2002, the 21-year-old Burt was a sophomore guard for the Huskies, averaging 8.0 points per game.

She went into cardiac arrest while watching television on New Year’s Eve 2002. Her teammates performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until paramedics arrived.

After a week in the hospital, Burt was diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome, an inherited abnormality that causes irregularities in heartbeat rhythm, and had a defibrillator implanted into her chest.

Since then, she and her family researched the syndrome extensively to determine what kind of life she could expect to live. Last August, Burt went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for additional testing.

Tests there and at UW indicated that Burt most likely does not have Long QT Syndrome. No genetic abnormality has been found.

In January, Burt, who worked as a student assistant coach last season, asked her parents and head coach June Daugherty about playing again.

“We were a little surprised at first,” said Teri Burt, her mother. “But then we all focused on what we can do to make this happen. We just decided we were going to support her. That we were going to make a decision based on the knowledge we had obtained through the doctors.”

Daugherty added: “I’m very supportive of Kayla’s return as a player. I’m proud of her patience and effort during this lengthy process and look forward to coaching her once again in a Husky uniform.”

Doctors believe Burt most likely suffered an idiopathic ventricular fibrillation, where the cause of her cardiac arrest is undetermined.

“Long QT Syndrome is not a black-and-white diagnosis and that’s what is so tough about it,” team physician Dr. Kim Harmon said.

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Burt defies odds, sets comeback

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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