95,016

Students screened since 2011

43

Screening technicians

8

Volunteer cardiologists

*60% male | 40% female | 69% diverse ethnicities | 50% economically disadvantaged

The Rose Family

In April of 2025, our son, Tommy Rose, was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW). Tommy was only fifteen years old.

Two weeks prior to our discovering Tommy’s heart condition, he had participated in the athletic physicals offered at his public high school. In preparing the paperwork for the medical physicals, I vaguely remember checking a box on a separate form to opt into the optional EKG offered by a non-profit called AugustHeart. Little did I know that by absent-mindedly checking that box, I might have helped save my son’s life.

Normally, receiving a phone call that informs you that your son has a congenital and very serious heart condition is a call no parent wants to ever receive; however, for us, this was the most important phone call we have ever received. Cathy Klumpp, my previous high school teacher and Executive Director at AugustHeart, called to tell me that Tommy’s EKG was abnormal and that, based on the EKG results, he did in fact have Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. My first reaction was total fear and panic, but the way Cathy calmly explained things to me and guided me towards the next steps helped me to leave my emotional state and enter into the- okay, let’s fix this- mode.

Days later, Tommy was seen by a pediatric cardiologist, and six weeks after that, he had heart surgery at Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin, Texas. That surgery saved Tommy’s life.

Today, Tommy is a healthy, happy, active teenager with ZERO restrictions. Tommy just completed a fabulous football season and is now preparing for his high school baseball tryouts. Thanks to AugustHeart, not only do we still have our son, but our son also has, God willing, a long and healthy life ahead of him.

Four years ago, I lost my brother to a sudden heart attack, so we are all too familiar with the devastation that the loss of life due to a heart attack can cause. Finding out about my brother was the worst day and phone call of my life. On the other hand, the phone call I received from AugustHeart was the best phone call of my entire life because instead of hearing the worst possible news after it was too late, we were given the information we needed to save our son’s life. And that information was discovered just because one little box was checked for one simple yet life-saving EKG to be performed on my son.

To say we will be forever grateful is an understatement. We owe our son’s life and our eternal and deepest gratitude to the legacy of August Koontz and AugustHeart.

– Caroline and Tom Rose

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Words from the Heart

Rob Cavender

When I think back to when we were 18 years old, I remember the late nights dreaming about what was ahead of us. We were both committed to TCU and ready to take on the world. We had plans for college, careers, family— and life was wide open.

And then, one phone call changed everything. I’ll never forget the moment I learned that August had passed away in his sleep. Just like that, my best friend—the guy I thought would stand next to me for all of life’s milestones—was gone. And the hardest part? His life might have been saved with something as simple as a heart screening.

That kind of loss—it doesn’t just break your heart, it reshapes who you are. And out of that heartbreak, August’s parents had the courage to turn grief into action. They created AugustHeart so that no other family, no other friend, would ever have to experience what we did.

At AugustHeart, we have the ability to prevent those calls from happening. That’s what makes AugustHeart so powerful. A FREE simple screening can mean a lifetime of memories that aren’t cut short. It means more weddings, more graduations, more Sunday dinners with the people we love.

-Rob Cavender

In 2025 we had 100% active board participation!