Be an I-GIVER for Living for Zachary!

I-Give.com is a great way to give to your favorite charity or non-profit organization. I-Give is so easy, you register, pick your charity and shop away! A portion (percentage) of each purchase made is donated to your cause. Also, when you shop within 45 days of your registration your get an extra $5 donated to your cause. It doesn't get much easier than that. Most of us do some shopping online anyway, so why not help LivingforZachary in this very wonderful way!

The Vision of I-Give.com:
In the near future, all consumer transactions will contain a percentage that benefits causes close to home.

Here are the steps to use I-Give:

Go to www.I-Give.com. Select your charity (LivingforZachary) and start the registration process.

Pick some places to shop and start getting your discounts. There are over 700 places to shop on I-Give:

• Amazon.Com
• Staples
• Barnes&Noble
• Overstock.com
• Best Buy
• Home Depot
• HSN
• Nordstrom
• Ann Taylor
• Banana Republic
  

There are so many more shops, way too many to list. You can find a complete list here. You can also use coupons too! I-Give.com has a I-Give Facebook page as well, join away to learn about updates and special promotions.

LivingforZachary needs everyone’s help and every bit helps, no amount is too small!

To help fight SCA (Sudden Cardiac Arrest) in Youth, please visit and shop on I-Give.com and be a I-GIVER today!

What exactly is Living for Zachary?

On February 10th, 1993 a precious gift was give to Troy and Karen Schrah, that gift was Zachary Schrah. On April 4, 2009 Zachary Schrah left this earth but the gift of his life still remains.

Zachary Schrah had no known history of heart problems or heath problems. He simply was a normal young man full of life, living it and loving it! Zachary loved to fish, hunt and play sports, especially football at Clark High School, he also played tackle on the Junior Varsity offensive line at Plano East Senior High School in Plano, Texas.

When Zachary’s life was taken by SCA (Sudden Cardiac Arrest), Karen Schrah wanted to do something, and help others; therefore the birth of the Living for Zachary Organization began.

Living for Zachary is a Non Profit Organization founded by Zachary’s Mother, Karen Schrah. Living for Zachary believes in raising awareness and the prevention of SCA, Sudden Cardiac Arrest, especially in Youth.

Living for Zachary’s mission is to:
• Raise Awareness and Saving Lives – through active participation with local schools, churches, business and media outlets • Education – coordinate CPR/AED classes and distribute educational pamphlets for area schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses
• Prevention– promote heart screenings for our teenagers (ages 13-22) state and nationwide
• Inspiration – encourage parents to become involved, schedule heart screenings for their teenagers, and support legislation requiring heart screening as part of student pre-participation physicals state and nationwide
• Providing Medical Equipment – donate Automated External Defibrillators (AED’s) in partnership with HeartSafe America, Inc. to needed facilities by on-line application process and meeting organization criteria
• Awarding Scholarships – selecting high school students who meet qualifications of the Living for Zachary scholarship as they pursue degrees in the healthcare industry and other careers relating to our mission.
• Promoting Healthy Living

Living for Zachary encourages you to have your heart screened and your child’s. It will be a decision you will never regret.

Take Heart and be screened!

No parent can imagine their child losing their life, especially in a everyday activity such as football practice, the unfortunate truth is that neither did Karen Schrah.

When we think of our children losing their lives, we often think of car accidents or chronic illnesses, not SCA, Sudden Cardiac Arrest. We take our kids for their physicals and we take them to the Doctor when they are sick and I am not sure that anyone thinks that there are conditions not being discovered when having their check up. Things that Doctors don't even see at the time.

Zachary Schrah had no prior history or family history of cardiac problems therefore there were no red flags for his High School Football Coach’s or his family. He simply died.

The HEART HOSPITAL at Baylor Plano has made it easy for parent’s to have their children screened for heart problems and ultimately save lives. There is a special Living for Zachary“Athlete Cardiac Screening” program for youth ages, 13-22 that will help detect heart abnormalities that could lead to SCA.

The screening package is non-invasive and will include an electrocardiogram and an echocardiogram for $100.00. You can call 1-800-4Baylor to schedule an appointment for the LivingforZachary heart screening or visit the HEART HOSPITAL at Baylor Plano located on Allied Drive in Plano, TX.

If you have a child between the ages of 13-22 Living4zachary.org encourages you to participate in this screening that could help save your child’s life. Please do it today, make the call.

Spring and High School Sports... be prepared for anything!

With Spring’s arrival means Spring sports for High School. Baseball in full swing, Soccer players out of the field, High School Softball and of course, the dreaded Spring football practice with the 7 on 7 games.

Although Springtime isn’t a HOT time of the year as far as temperature, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be aware of the issues and problems that our young athletes can run into. Our young athletes can get dehydrated, and experience muscle strains, tears and at times broken bones.

We depend on the Coach’s to prepare the water for the athletes and make sure they stay dehydrated, but what if there is a underlying problem that no one is even aware of, not even that high school football player or his family.

There are several steps that parents/coach’s and high school trainers can take to ensure the safety of the football players:

1/ Make sure that a trained staff member/adult is present at all times during a game or practice Make sure that staff member is trained and certified in first aid and CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation)~ If you don't know it, LEARN it! If you have access to a AED (automated external defibrillator) at the school, double check to make sure it is accessible quickly.

2/ Educate the player on health safety and warning signs. Make sure that the players are educated on nutrition, injury prevention and hydration and if he/or she feels sick or has shortness of breath ~immediately let a Coach or Administrator know!

3./ Have a AED available and near at all sporting events including practices. This could save a young person’s life.

4./ Encourage your High School athletes and parents to have a heart screening. Heart conditions are often undiagnosed until Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) occurs, and currently~ the majority of Sudden Cardiac Arrest incidents in youth athletes are fatal.

Living4Zachary promotes Heart Screening for all but especially in young athletes. It does make a difference, and if you don't believe how important screening is ~ just ask Karen Schrah, Mother of Zachary Schrah . Zachary died in April of 2009 of SCA at football practice, a simple Heart Screening could have helped save his life.

If you would like more information on the Living4Zachary mission, please visit our website and find out how to help with SCA awareness.