Suwanee Student's Death Spurs Mom To Save Lives

Terrell Wilson had been to the Collins Hill High varsity football game, and started feeling nauseous.

His mother thought it was the food he had had at the game. But he hit his head on the corner of the sink, so something obviously was wrong.

Tracy Wilson, his mother, called 911, but in this case, the cardiac situation was so severe that nothing could help. Terrell Wilson, age 14, did not survive the attack in 2007.

Turns out that Terrell Wilson, a ninth-grade student at , was a victim of aortic dissection, a condition that also caused the sudden death in 2003 of actor John Ritter.

"It was a total shock," Tracy Wilson recalled recently, five years after her son's death.

What are your memories of Terrell Wilson? Tell us in the comments below.

So the loss of her son has spurred Tracy Wilson to try to prevent similar tragedies. She has started the Terrell Wilson Total Sports Fitness Foundation. The non-profit aims to "secure adequate physicals for our children who are interested in participating in any physical activities."

"It's time to start saving kids' lives," Wilson said.

She notes that now, physicals for high school athletes do not include testing for heart conditions. Her goal is for physicals to include EKGs.

Her efforts are starting to pay off. on her behalf. The PTSA helps organize health fairs at Collins Hill High, and the donation will enable 15 student-athletes to be tested through Heart Screens for Teens. Terrell Wilson was a JV football player at Collins Hill. "He had a lot of heart," his mother recalled.

Wilson also travels to different high schools to spread the word on how important it is to get screened.

Her organization is in the growing stages, she said, and she wants to move it out of her Lawrenceville home and into office space.

The foundation's vision statement says it aims to "have a central location where each child can receive the proper heart screenings and physicals done by an on-site cardiologist and sports medicine physician."

"Do It For Terrell," the literature reads.

Tracy Wilson still remembers her son's last words as she called 911: "I'm OK, mommy."

Don’t miss any Suwanee news. Subscribe to Suwanee Patch’s free newsletter, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.