The word “heart” is one of the most overused metaphors in the world of sports, but for Selena Lustig it takes on a much more literal, and important meaning.

The Issaquah High sophomore nearly died four years ago of cardiac arrest due to a rare condition called Long QT Syndrome (LQTS).

“I probably shouldn’t have been alive, so it’s kind of hard to think about,” said Lustig, 16.

While sleeping over at a friends’ house, the then seventh-grader stopped breathing. Her friends noticed her face turned blue and she was shaking. The friend’s mother rushed downstairs and provided Selena CPR, allowing emergency response time to arrive.

“While they were working on her, the lieutenant came out and said ‘It’s not looking good, should we call a chaplain?,’” recalled Adrian Lustig, Selena’s mother. “At that point they had already tried to defibrillate her about two or three times.”

Fortunately, the EMTs kept working until they shocked Selena’s heart back to life — a good 10 minutes after it had stopped beating. According to her mother, Selena was among only 5 percent of people who survive from such episodes. Selena spent roughly two weeks at Seattle Children’s Hospital, but to the surprise of everyone, her recovery was speedy. She avoided what doctors thought would be necessary rehabilitation methods, and within a month she was back at school.

There were a couple glaring differences upon her return, however. Selena now had a defibrillator implanted in her chest — a device designed to shock her heart back to a normal rate if the beat level drops too far, or slow the rate if beats become too rapid. Selena was also asked to not play any more contact sports — a request that was difficult for a very active girl to accept.

“I played a lot of basketball up until the seventh grade, and then I couldn’t play anymore, so I was pretty upset about that,” she said. “Then I got more into tennis.”

The transition

Selena quickly transitioned into tennis, a much more mild sport. She played since age 8, but it was never her top sport.

Fast forward to 2009, and things are slightly different.

Hard work over the past three years has placed her on the Eagles’ No. 1 doubles team, and at the No. 3 singles position.

According to head coach Shannon Small, there is nothing the other girls do that Selena can’t.

“She’s the showoff, she’s the ham, she’s probably got the most personality on the court,” Small said.

Selena and doubles teammate Ariel Hagen joined forces last season and advanced all the way to the quarterfinals of the Sea-King District tournament.

“Every school we played, nobody would believe she was a freshman,” Hagen said. “She’s got a great serve, she’s great at the net.”

Despite a significant difference in age, Hagen and Selena quickly bonded.

“I hated doubles until last year when I started playing with her and now I think I probably prefer that over singles,” Hagen said, noting they hope to make another run at the district tournament this year.

Dose of reality

Selena had no major complications up until recently. While exiting a school assembly on March 6, she stood up and suddenly found herself collapsed into the arms of a teacher in the bleachers.

“My heartbeat got out of whack,” she said. “If it hadn’t been for the pacemaker/difibulater to shock me back to life, who knows what could have happened. At a point, I think it got somewhere in the 300 beats per minute range.”

Selena found herself waking up in a daze, but said she was OK. Paramedics took her out of the gym as a precautionary measure, and she stayed true to form as she exited the gym.

“She was cracking jokes immediately after on the way to the ambulance,” Hagen said. “Our team is in tears, we’re all standing around freaking out … For all of us it was kind of an eye-opener. She has to live with this the rest of her life and there’s nothing she can do about it. That’s a lot to take when you’re 16 years old.”

While there haven’t been any incidents on the tennis court, Small said she is well trained on what to look for in terms of facial expressions. She said if there is a problem Selena will often go from appearing very lively and outgoing to getting a more withdrawn and concentrated look on her face.

“In other words I tell her mother that when she’s not sarcastic, she’s not flipping me crap, I know that there’s something wrong,” Small laughed.

Creating awareness

LQTS is a rare heart disorder. According to www.qtsyndrome.ch, 1 in 5,000 to 7,000 people are born with the condition. It affects the heart’s electrical system and may cause fast, chaotic heartbeats. It can result in fainting, and in some cases cardiac arrest.

Selena’s disorder was passed down through genetics. Her father and older brother both have LQTS, but it was discovered later in life, and neither have had any episodes.

Adrian said many people are unaware they have the condition until it’s too late.

“Sometimes unexplained deaths are related to it … in most situations the first symptom is a heart attack and death,” she said.

Adrian continues to be an advocate of increasing the amount of automatic external defbribbilaters in the public, noting they could be crucial in saving lives.

For Selena, she continues to lead through example by performing at the top of her game. She occasionally gets tired, she can’t always sprint as fast as the other girls and she has to watch her adrenaline, but other than that, she’s just a tennis player.

“Nobody looks at her like she has a disability,” Hagen said. “She’s like everyone else on this team.”

While she remains modest about the obstacles she’s overcome on the court and in life, Selena is clear about one thing — people shouldn’t take heart care for granted.

“It’s a good thing to know,” she said. “Peoples hearts should be healthy. If you can prevent something like that from happening, then why not just do a quick EKG?’”