22-year old marathoner Taylor Cleppo dies in CLE just days after college graduation

Lets runner wrote:

In near all of these cases the person who died was having some sort of Atrial Fib episode.

Exactly, which can be caused by extreme dehydration during exercise.

Giving chest compressions to someone with an ultra high rapid heart rate is extremely dangerous.

Shoebacca wrote:

Three very real possibilities whenever something like this happens:

1) Undiagnosed condition at play.

2) Heat and/or hydration related complications during the race.

3) Too much caffeine intake.

The top two are more commonly talked about, but the most common thread found among marathoner deaths has been shown to be excessive caffeine intake. You should not go over 300mg or you risk serious heart trouble. Much better to keep it well below 150mg and much better to get it through a couple of regular strength Gu packets spread over a race than to do coffee before the race or any concentrated pill form ever.

Where did you get that number from? That’s like a grande coffee from Starbucks. I imagine quite a few people drink that much before races. Is there actual literature on that in terms of heart trouble over 300? I have read that even up to 400 is safe. Just curious.

On Athlinks she was recorded as having run a 4 mile race last year in just over 40 minutes. I figure she was on pace for a finish past four hours for the marathon. In any event, it is tragic that she died.

Switek wrote:

On Athlinks she was recorded as having run a 4 mile race last year in just over 40 minutes. I figure she was on pace for a finish past four hours for the marathon. In any event, it is tragic that she died.

She was running the half.

Lets runner wrote:

In near all of these cases the person who died was having some sort of Atrial Fib episode.

Atrial Fibrillation is not drop dead fatal. Ventricular Fibrillation is.

Lets runner wrote:

In near all of these cases the person who died was having some sort of Atrial Fib episode.

A-Fib does not cause cardiac arrest. There is also no scientific evidence that either chronic or idiopathic A-Fib leads to ventricular arrhythmia. While the atria will sit there and quiver and will not pump blood effectively, blood will still flow into the ventricles which then contract normally. The cardiac output however will drop, the individual will be lightheaded and exercise capacity will be reduced. But not in all cases. Speculation isn't really productive but its likely she had some type of ventricular cardiac arrhythmia. So sad.

on athlinks.com, there are three results for "Taylor Ceepo".

2018 Home Run For The Homeless

November 22, 2018 OH, USA

Taylor Ceepo F22

FINAL TIME 40:19

2010 Homerun For The Homeless

November 25, 2010 OH, USA

Taylor Ceepo F14

FINAL TIME 31:56

2009 Home Run For The Homeless 2009

November 26, 2009 OH, USA

Taylor Ceepo F13

FINAL TIME 30:24

Since Ceepo seems to be a relatively unique name, these race results are in Ohio, and the ages seem to match up, I'd assume this is the same woman from the Cleveland half marathon.

"Home Run For The Homeless" is a 4mi race - looks like the local Turkey Trot race for Akron.

for 2009, she finished 7th in the 14-and-under female age group.

for 2010, she finished 6th in the 14-and-under female age group.

2018 looks like it was cold and she ran with her sister?

You can see her other family members by searching for her last name in the results.

Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy It's a degenerative , progressive and incurable genetic heart defect by which the muscle wall of the right ventricle is replaced by fiber/adipose tissue. This leads to diminished heart function and ventricular tachycardia. There isn't "one " test you can do to diagnosis it; instead diagnosis is done by a check a list of factors, some major and others minors. It manifests itself by inverted T-waves on a EKG, high number of PVC's on a holter monitor, abnormal cardiac MRI and in about 70% of the cases there's a presence of genetic markers. Other symptoms include, ventricular tachycardia and fainting. The exercise component of the disease is not well understood; the debate is still raging between being a cause and being an aggravating factor. There was an experiment done with lab rats where they were bread with the same genetic defects present in humans and were exercised to develop the disease. So any form of endurance exercise is absolutely not recommended for the people with the disease. There's the risk of developing VT during exercise and an increase in rate of the degradation of the ventricle wall. John Hopkins has a very good ARVC center and it's director, Hugh Calkins, is thought out to be a leading expert on the subject.

skittles09 wrote:

whats ARVC? I've passed out after races before ....not during

You sound like you would be a lot of fun at parties.

There is support for the position that caffeine is a performance enhancer. I haven't done an exhaustive review, but 5 minutes on Google produced decent support for that position.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4462044/

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/caffeine-and-exercise#section1

Personally, I don't drink coffee, but have developed a 5 Hour Energy habit that I am slowly weaning myself off of. There are clearly positive side effects (outside of athletic performance) and quite likely some negative side effect of caffeine consumption. None of this should be surprising.

Franklyshorter wrote:

Switek wrote:

On Athlinks she was recorded as having run a 4 mile race last year in just over 40 minutes. I figure she was on pace for a finish past four hours for the marathon. In any event, it is tragic that she died.

She was running the half.

Yes, I see now you are correct.

A tv news station did an interview with another runner, Michael Donley, who was running near Ceepo when she collapsed. He finished in 1:59 for the half.

I grew up in the south and moved to Cleveland after grad school. I worked with high school kids during the summer teaching marching bands. I marched drum corps and was used to spending all day practicing in 90+ degree heat. The kids in Cleveland would drop like flies when temps hit the mid 80s. If you are not acclimated to the heat, it can really hit you hard regardless of whether you are in good shape or not.

nonononono wrote:

I'm thinking it was a undiagnosed cardiomyopathy.

There but for the grace of God, go I.

This could have happened to me if not only I hadn't started passing out during races which lead to a diagnosis of ARVC.

Really sad situation.

Can someone explain why cardiomyopathy would cause death during a workout but not just from regular activity?

Poor girl and god bless her family and friends. People will have theories, too much caffeine (highly unlikely to be the cause of death), heat exhaustion again unlikely. Most likely an undiagnosed heart condition, too many young people are dying like this.

May she rest in peace

Prayers needed wrote:

What, exactly, do you think prayers could do?

Not being argumentative, I'm just curious. She's dead--what would you expect/hope for from our praying?

It could. Anytime your heart gets jolted by exercise, by you getting startled, road rage, by any adrenaline releasing events or any event that taxes your heart can cause it to go into VT that may lead to death. But on the ARVD case, the ventricular arrhythmias are usually exercise induced. In my case as soon as I stopped running and cycling my VT went completely away.

bartholomew_maxwell wrote:

nonononono wrote:

I'm thinking it was a undiagnosed cardiomyopathy.

There but for the grace of God, go I.

This could have happened to me if not only I hadn't started passing out during races which lead to a diagnosis of ARVC.

Really sad situation.

Can someone explain why cardiomyopathy would cause death during a workout but not just from regular activity?

It doesn't do anything for her. The statement is, however, a way of expressing sympathy for those left behind. I am not sure if her family is ever going to read these boards, but they may take comfort in that expression of sympathy if they do.

Moreover, some believers (I am not a believer) think that praying to their god might result in their god granting the family of the poor girl some small mercy by giving them comfort.

That's a myth wrote:

It was a misleading statement though, not factual, which was why I responded.

Personally I never drank coffee. It's a terrible destructive habit and doesn't help anyone.

ThatAverageRunner wrote:

There’s been studies done on it. And I have my own anecdotal evidence too.

What does that mean, "there is been studies."

Apparently you've applied your same grammarian expertise to the subject of coffee.

Smoove wrote:

You sound like you would be a lot of fun at parties.

I do have a lot of fun, but I don't go to parties.

With rising heat level it is getting hard for runners competing for the marathon, dehydration, heat stroke and sudden cardiac arrest are the primary reason for athletes collapsing, although sudden cardiac arrest is quite rare.

Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) has studied at recent data to guide clinicians on how to prevent and manage sudden cardiac arrest in competitive athletes.

Please go through Link for more details-

https://www.myhealthyclick.com/how-to-prevent-and-manage-sudden-cardiac-arrest-in-athletes/