In Lawrenceville, a mother honors her late son Nick Blakely by trying to save lives

Ever since, Wilson has committed herself to protecting young people from similar tragedies.

“He collapsed on the football field doing something that he loved,” Wilson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “So I wanted to make sure that no other mother had to go through what I went through. So I just got on the ground and started running.”

This past Saturday, that meant helping organize a health clinic to conduct free heart screenings for young people to detect conditions like her son’s. The event was held at the recreation center at Rhodes Jordan Park in Lawrenceville, where her son played football while growing up.

More than 50 tests were conducted, which pleased Wilson.

“That means more people are hearing about it and more people are taking it more serious,” she said.

It is not the health concern most would associate with youth sports, but sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in young athletes, according to the Mayo Clinic, which cited reports indicating that between one in 50,000 and 100,000 young athletes die every year from it.

For perspective, about 211,000 high school students participated in GHSA athletics activities in the 2023-24 academic year. Add to that the tens of thousands more who play sports at younger levels or those who compete recreationally. According to the American Heart Association, one out of every 300 youth has an undetected heart condition that puts them at risk of sudden cardiac arrest.

“It’s not just a football player,” Wilson said. “It could be a cheerleader, it could be a track star. Just people just in general. So it could be anybody. A lot of people don’t know that.”

To create awareness on a broad scale, Wilson worked to pass state legislation that requires every Georgia high school to inform students participating in interscholastic sports about sudden cardiac arrest, including symptoms and warning signs. Wilson testified before state legislators to help push passage of what is known as the Jeremy Nelson and Nick Blakely Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act. It became state law in 2019. Jeremy was a 12-year-old boy from Buford who died in 2013 playing in a rec-league basketball game.

Former state Sen. P.K. Martin, who co-sponsored the bill, said it would never have happened without Wilson reaching out to him as his constituent to initiate the process after a previous attempt by her fell short. He called it a home run because of how much sense it made and how her testimony was difficult to question.

“So often in state politics, you see people with ideas that look good, but they might profit from it,” Martin told The AJC. “But it was not that way for her. She was doing it because she knew it was the right thing to do.”

Wilson also founded the Nick Blakely Foundation that she runs with her eldest son Ryan Brown. The foundation has purchased automated external defibrillators for 13 parks and youth athletic associations in Gwinnett. The devices typically cost between $1,000 to $2,000. The foundation also awards scholarships to students who exemplify Blakely’s traits. Beyond his football prowess, Blakely was a solid student who was majoring in accounting at Stetson. His mother described him as a good kid who didn’t give her any problems.

“I just want to do great things in memory of Nick,” Wilson said.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Ryan Brown

Credit: Photo courtesy of Ryan Brown

The goal is more awareness beyond Gwinnett, more heart-screen events such as Saturday’s (conducted with the help of Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation and two non-profits committed to preventing SCA deaths, the Nola Network and Who We Play For) and more AED donations. It’s not an easy task.

“The grief makes you, like, ‘I don’t want to do this,’” Wilson said.

But the desire to honor and love her son keeps her moving forward, as does the pain that she wants to keep other mothers from feeling over the unnecessary loss of their own children.

Intertwined with Wilson’s motivation to protect young people is a desire to fulfill her son’s goal to achieve fame. It was Blakely’s goal to make it to the NFL.

And, in the saddest, but perhaps most meaningful, way, it has happened. The foundation bears his name, as does the field at Rhodes Jordan Park where he began playing football as a child.

“In the midst of a tragedy, great things can come out of it,” Wilson said.

It is not how Wilson wanted to love her youngest child, but the actions are unmistakable, years after his death. Brown, her eldest son, called her a champion.

“Because it’s bigger than Nick now,” he said, as he and her mother stood on the sideline of Nick Blakely Field. “It’s Nick’s story that’s made the impact and the impression that he’s made on people has just continued to grow. But the number of lives that his name and the work that she’s doing is touching is just so much more, I don’t want to say important, but more meaningful.”

He offered a thought that might give you goose bumps.

“And we don’t even know the lives that we’ve saved,” he said. “We don’t even know the people that have either been at the screenings or the AED’s that are being used.”

In honoring her lost son, a loving mother has turned her grief into potentially lifesaving action. A hero lives in our midst.