

Stories From the Heart chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates. Now, when he experiences a racing heart, he's confident it's an adrenaline rush from his fast-paced racing career. He has participated in several American Heart Association Heart Walk events and launched fundraisers to support the AHA.īryce receives annual EKGs to monitor his heart health and he's been clear for more than a decade. Now that he is behind the wheel once again, Bryce isn't just racing to the finish line he's also doing laps as an educator and helping spread the word about WPW. Outside of racing, he's a senior logistics manager in the electric vehicle battery industry.
Heartbeat line driver#
He used that time to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees he returned to the track in 2017.Īt 28, Bryce is currently a professional race car driver and a national champion in an open-wheel racing series. "The second cardiac ablation solved the problem."Īlthough Bryce was medically cleared to return to racing, medical bills put the brakes on his aspirations, forcing him to miss several seasons. "A second procedure was necessary because he was still having some abnormal symptoms," Kimberly said. In 20, Bryce underwent two catheter ablations that destroyed the extra pathway and resolved the rapid heartbeat. I had a sense of urgency that I needed to progress and needed to progress now." Between the heart monitor and several scans, doctors had a better handle on his problem. "I was very ambitious and remain that way. "Not only was I afraid of the symptoms of my heart abnormality, I was concerned about how this roadblock would impact the progression of my motorsports career," he said.

Self-conscious about the bulky device, and not wanting to advertise that he had a heart condition, he longed for cooler weather and the opportunity to hide it under a sweatshirt. The first step was for Bryce to wear a vest-like heart monitor that provided around-the-clock information about his heart rate. The answer was yes – if they could find the specific "extra" electrical pathway that was affecting his heart rate. When Bryce was diagnosed with WPW, he immediately asked if it was reversible.
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Now, instead of riding that momentum and getting a license to compete at the next level, he found himself racing between medical appointments and navigating the twist and turns of life with a heart condition. He'd just returned from a motorsports driving school in Ontario, Canada, where he set a track record and attracted interest from sponsors. The diagnosis came at a pivotal time in Bryce's racing career. "You don't think about something like this happening to your child." Bryce Cornet as a child (left) and his mom, Kimberly, holding up American Heart Association signs. "It was scary," said his mother, Kimberly Cornet. It showed he had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, or WPW, which means he has an extra electrical pathway between the upper and lower chambers of the heart that causes a rapid heartbeat.ĭoctors recommended his parents learn CPR as soon as possible in case Bryce had a cardiac arrest. They thought he was too young to be having heart issues figuring it was acid reflux, they considered the EKG unnecessary.Īfter the episode in math class, he finally got an EKG. In a previous appointment for complaints about acid reflux, Bryce was hooked up for an electrocardiogram, but it was removed by doctors prior to the test. It wasn't the first time Bryce had seen a doctor for similar symptoms. "I thought I was a 15-year-old having a heart attack." "My mind immediately went to the worst-case scenario," Bryce recalled. Although his heart beat a little faster each time he got behind the wheel, he knew there was nothing normal about the severe heart palpitations, dizziness and sweating he experienced during a high school math class. The Norman, Oklahoma, native started racing go-karts when he was 6.
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"Once my parents saw my interest in watching racing on TV and playing with die-cast race cars on the living room floor, they introduced me to the world of kart racing." "I always wanted to be a race car driver," Bryce said. His heart beats faster each time he puts on his helmet, slides into the cockpit of his race car, snaps on the buckles of his harness and puts the pedal to the floor to careen around a twisting, turning racetrack. (Photo courtesy of Bryce Cornet)īryce Cornet is no stranger to a racing heart. Race car driver and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome survivor Bryce Cornet.
