Video, After Christmas death, teen leaves online message behind

[Johnboy60]

Have you cried yet today? No? Here, we can fix that.

Ben Breedlove, an 18-year-old high school senior in Austin, Texas, died on Christmas Day of a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, something he'd had all of his life. But he left behind two wordless videos on his YouTube channel, in which he used a series of note cards with handwritten messages to tell his life story, including the three times he "cheated death." His family discovered the videos in the hours after his death, reports NBC's Austin, Texas, affiliate station, KXAN.

TODAY Health - After Christmas death, teen leaves online message behind

 

[TexasBluebonnet]

Yeah, I saw that. It was very moving. I think that's why I'm here. I think his story has lead me to start thinking more and more about my own heart condition. I was diagnosed with a heart block. It's type 1 second degree, which means that the bottom of my heart doesn't always receive the electical impulse to beat, so...sometimes it doesn't. At that point I have a momentary twinge of pain. Not too bad, more like being shot with an arrow, and it goes away after about 15-30 seconds. Just long enough for me to think what it would be like to have a full on heart attack. I fear experiencing that pain again. I think I was born with this. I wasn't diagnosed till my 20's. My resting heart rate is 40 beats per minute. The normal is 60-90.