Patrick J. Fox

7405 East Cedarville Road

Rock City, Illinois, 61070

November 12, 2009

Barack Obama

President of the United States

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, DC, 20500

Dear President Obama:

On March 31^st, 2008 at 9:10 a.m., I suffered a massive heart attack that caused me to literally flat line six times. This letter is not about me or about that moment in time but rather an overwhelming desire to save, according to the National Heart Association, 4,000 high school aged children from suffering sudden heart attacks as a result of congenital cardiovascular defects going undetected.

Never before has there been a coordinated national effort embarked on to eradicate an entire defined segment of heart attacks as reported by the National Heart Association. When this program is implemented it will strike a heavy blow to the nearly 500,000 people that die each year as a result of heart attacks. With this program in place, over a period of succeeding years, the number of adult aged heart attacks associated with undetected congenital heart defects will be greatly reduced. 

Jobs created nationally as a result of implementing this dynamic program will exceed 10,000 in the first year. The implementation of providing an EKG for each high school student nationally in the first year and incoming freshman in succeeding years will significantly reduce heart attacks suffered by high school aged children and ultimately adults. The cost associated with this program is infinitesimal compared to the 100’s of million dollars in yearly costs associated with heart attacks on the health care industry.

While no one wants to allocate a price on the lives of young people, the reality is that significant amounts of money will be saved in health care costs as a result of this yearly testing. I am a “can do” person that has a passion to do what I can to limit the number of parents of high school aged children being faced with the trauma associated with the sudden death by a child. The program that I am preparing will not save all the lives of teenagers associated with sudden death, but as a parent and as President of the United States your/our children desperately need the opportunity to survive, thrive and dream of a full and active life.

Implementation of this health program in the United States is critical. By targeting one heart attack age group at a time, the impact over the next decade will be significant. Please consider this proposal in an expedited manner as the lives of teenagers throughout the entire nation enlist your commitment to their future.

The federal stimulus dollars have been effectively utilized in many different ways thus far to lift up industries large and small in a time when the United States has been challenged economically and emotionally. With great respect President Obama, I request federal stimulus dollars for each and every child presently attending high school throughout the great nation of the United States so that they will all receive an EKG test to determine their propensity for congenital cardiovascular heart defects.

The media outlets convey that you are convening a “jobs” forum in December. I would like to be part of that meeting. As a high school teacher I have a keen knowledge of front line challenges and the reality of high school students. I would like to meet with you to further discuss my desire to save 4,000 high school aged children.

Sincerely,

Patrick J. Fox                        President/Founder-Survive, Thrive, Dream

patrickfox@widowmakerheartattack.com

www.widowmakerheartattack.com