Kai Lermer was an honors student, three-sport athlete, and a seemingly healthy 16-year old attending Waukesha North high school in Waukesha, WI. He was rarely sick and never complained of any health concerns. Kai always made his family and friends laugh! He loved playing sports (uniform #11), enjoyed working-out and was really looking forward to college. Unfortunately, pediatricians do not routinely run ECG screening tests at the required physicals for young adults.
March 25th, 2019 was the first day of Kai’s junior year’s spring break. He was playing a game of basketball with his friends at a park when Kai dropped to the ground from sudden cardiac arrest. Once stabilized at Waukesha Memorial Hospital, Kai was transferred to Children’s Hospital where he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW). After 9 days of hope and despair, Kai passed away. His family, friends and school community were blind-sided, heartbroken, and devastated. One of Kai’s friends (Eden Liu) started a Go Fund Me for Kai just after he was hospitalized. From that fund, the Kai Lermer Memorial Fund was created. It was during hospitalization that his family learned that a simple EKG/ECG would have likely detected Kai’s heart condition.
Shortly thereafter, the Kai Lermer Memorial Fund partnered with Heart smart EKG to help raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest in young adults by providing heart-screening events for High Schools to prevent this tragedy from happening to other families.
In late 2023, Kai11 Save-A-Heart Mission was also created as a non-profit organization. Shortly after it's inception, it partnered with Who We Play For to continue offering low-cost EKGs/ECGs to the young adults in Waukesha county (primarily).An EKG/ECG is a simple, painless test to help give peace of mind. No one thinks sudden cardiac arrest could happen to him/her. We must also recognize that experts continue to research to understand if/how COVID-19 can affect a teenager’s heart. Please do not pass-up an opportunity fora possible life-saving screening!