The Cummings High School community is in mourning.

Fifteen-year-old Malik Mebane collapsed as he was coming on the field for practice Monday afternoon. What caused his sudden death is a mystery.

UNC Rex Cardiologist Dr. Christopher Kelly says instances like this are rare and can be difficult to predict.

An athletic trainer performed CPR and used an AED in an attempt to revive Mebane, but he did not survive.

“Sometimes, when someone dies suddenly, it’s not their heart, so delivering a shock to their heart is not going to be useful,” Kelly said.

The instance of a sudden death while participating in sports is about 1 in 200,000, Kelly said.

“It’s absolutely a nightmare scenario for his family, for his school and his community, so my heart breaks for them,” he added.

Preventing sudden deaths in student athletes was the main focus of a WakeMed screening event just this month in Apex where doctors looked for any warning signs.

Kelly everyone should have a similar screening before participating in sports.

“Hopefully most students are going through this and getting screened appropriately, but the screening itself is not perfect either,” he said. “There’s no way – unfortunately – to prevent 100% of these cases.”

Mebane was a 10th grader at Cummings.

The school system released a statement on the matter.

“Our District and the school community are heartbroken by this tragic loss. Malik Mebane was a student, an athlete, and a part of our community. As a district, we are committed to supporting our students as they begin to process and cope with their grief. We have a team of counselors and support staff at the school to help our students during this difficult time. We’d like to thank the community for their outpouring of love and support for the school and our students as we continue to keep the family and friends of Malik in our thoughts.”

Cummings plays Graham at home on Friday.

The Mebane family has established a GoFundMe to help pay Malik’s funeral expenses.

Source: highschoolot.com