An Orange County teenager is hospitalized after suddenly falling ill with a rare heart condition that some doctors say has been increasingly affecting young men.
Nolan Yearout, an athletic 15-year-old student at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, was feeling good one day before he fell gravely ill.
“He’s been in such good shape,” said Kevin Yearout, Nolan’s father. “[He was] looking forward to baseball.”
Kevin said he was initially told the flu had been spreading around school campus at the time Nolan became sick.
“We took him to his pediatrician and that’s the first time I heard him complain that his heart hurt,” Kevin said.
Nolan was sent home at first, but that’s when his heart began hurting tremendously.
He was later diagnosed with myocarditis, a rare and serious condition that involves inflammation of a muscular layer of the heart wall.
“Myocarditis can weaken the heart and its electrical system,” according to the American Heart Association. “As a result, the heart’s ability to pump blood declines.”
Nolan’s heart was failing fast — he entered the ICU three weeks ago and was on life support at one point.
“It was an unbelievable nightmare,” Kevin said. “Nobody should go through that. If we would’ve known that his heart was hurting, we would’ve definitely pressed on to make sure they were checking him more and following through but you don’t know. It just seems like a flu.”
“Unfortunately, there’s a lot we don’t know about myocarditis,” said Dr. Omid Fatemi, a cardiologist with St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Ventura.
However, Fatemi notes there has been an uptick in cases of myocarditis in males between 12 to 40 years old, despite the origin of each case remaining mostly unknown.
“It comes from a lot of different causes,” Fatemi explained. “More often than not, we don’t know the cause, but when we do, we think it’s due to some sort of virus.”
Fatemi advises anyone who may be experiencing any heart-related symptoms to address the issues immediately.
According to the Mayo Clinic, some common symptoms include:
- Chest pain
- Fatigue
- Swelling of the legs, ankles and feet
- Rapid or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmias)
- Shortness of breath, at rest or during activity
- Light-headedness or feeling like you might faint
- Flu-like symptoms such as headache, body aches, joint pain, fever or sore throat
Nolan’s family hopes that by sharing the teenager’s story, it may help others get diagnosed before experiencing a similar nightmare.
So far, the teen’s family said they’ve received good news and Nolan has been recovering well.
“He’s a tough kid,” Kevin said. “He’s handling it. This is just what’s happening and he’s pushing through and we’re trying to keep positive.”
Although he remains hospitalized, his family said they’re hopeful they’ll be able to head home soon enough.
A GoFundMe page set up to help Nolan’s family with medical expenses can be found here.