North Andover runner dies a week after collapse

Student called a hard worker

NORTH ANDOVER - It was school vacation week, but students, teachers, and neighbors trickled into North Andover High School yesterday after learning that a student described as a top-notch senior had died a week after collapsing during a track meet.

They had stood vigil for several tense days, hoping that the track co-captain would recover after his heart failed on school grounds April 14.

But Alex Farese, 17, died Monday at Tufts Medical Center's Floating Hospital for Children in Boston. He had an undiagnosed heart defect in which a pulmonary artery, instead of a coronary artery, fed his heart, family members said.

Those at the track meet said he did not mention any problem before the race against Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School. And the North Andover High School senior had never showed symptoms, said his father, Rich, in a phone interview.

"Somehow his heart had just compensated," his father said.

The teenager was running a 400-meter race, his specialty, when he started to slow near the finish line. A teammate noticed he was struggling to breathe after he crossed the line and asked whether he was OK.

Farese indicated that he was not and then collapsed.

A nurse who had watched the race administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and he was treated with a defibrillator. But he never regained consciousness, and doctors told the family that he had suffered brain damage

Every year, scores of seemingly healthy students die after collapsing at athletic venues. No exact figures are kept, but some analysts estimate that about 300 athletes die annually from sudden cardiac arrest.

In 1996, the American Heart Association recommended athletes receive cardiovascular screenings as part of standard physicals before stepping onto the field. But some have called comprehensive tests of all athletes too costly.

The Fareses were busy arranging their son's funeral yesterday and had not discussed widespread testing of athletes. But Rich Farese said he now plans to get the rest of his family tested for heart anomalies.

His son was the fourth of six children. His family and friends described him as a reserved child who was independent and driven, determined not to bother his busy parents.

"He almost raised himself, really," his father said. "He was quiet, but he always wanted to be in command of himself from the start."

In addition to leading the track teams in both winter and spring seasons, he worked at The Loft restaurant in town, earning enough money to buy a Honda Civic.

The teenager planned to study chemical engineering and had been accepted to Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, and UMass-Amherst's Commonwealth College, his father said.

At his house, his grandfather, Larry Murano of Burlington, held up a high school transcript covered in As.

"He was a kid who was talented but also outworked everybody," his track coach, Steve Nugent, said in a phone interview. "It sounds so cliché, but there's never been a kid who demonstrated those clichés so well."

Last week, the community gathered for a Mass at St. Michael Church in town, and students held a vigil during the weekend. The family has been inundated with support, from deli trays to paper towels to cash donations. "This is the kind of town where people rally to help one another out," Rich Farese said.

But Farese's death hit many hard, school officials noted. They opened the school to all the town's students during the vacation and made guidance counselors available. Some students gathered early yesterday to walk around the school's track; and they plan to do so again this morning and the morning after that.

His car, left in the school's lot since he drove to school last week, was covered in flowers. Forsythia stood in for an antenna, roses covered the windshield like a row of soldiers, and dandelion chains decorated the side mirror.

Omega Au, 18, stopped by with an iris for the hood. Soon others gathered. His death has brought the community together, they said.

They are trying to remember his prowess at the Guitar Hero video game and his many jokes. But they also said they are struggling to understand it all.

"It's just the whole why thing," said Mary Cate Mannion, a junior and track teammate who saw Farese collapse. "Why a 17-year-old kid who seemed so healthy?"

A wake will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. tomorrow at St. Michael to accommodate large crowds. His funeral Mass will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at the church.

Kytja Weir can be reached at kytja.weir@gmail.com.