Ramirez: 'Screen Your Athlete' helps save lives

Saturday was Xavier Ramirez's 16th birthday, and he spent it at an event created in his honor. "Operation: Screen Your Athlete" started last winter after Ramirez, a Slaton Tiger football player, collapsed on the field from sudden cardiac arrest last October.

AeroCare and volunteer doctors and nurses put on the free cardiac screenings for students to provide early warning for them and their families across the South Plains.

"It feels like I'm saving lives," Ramirez said at the event. "I don't want parents to go through what my mom went through."

"I think it will help them," he concluded.

The organizers of "Screen Your Athlete" said they've been asked to do other screenings across the state, including places like Houston and the Metroplex.