Son's Death Sparks Mom's Crusade

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This is a healthy 9-year-old boy. How in the world could his heart just stop?" Standing in the emergency room the night of September 27, 2005, that's the question Jill Levine kept asking herself. She'd just gotten news that she found impossible to comprehend: Her eldest son, Robbie, a fourth grader, had died. About an hour earlier, Robbie had been running the bases at Little League practice near their home in Merrick, a suburb of New York City. Levine's husband, Craig, who coached the team, was standing at first base when Robbie ran by him. "I remember thinking I'd never seen him run so fast," he recalled. But seconds later, he turned to see that his son had collapsed right on home plate. Craig Levine ran to Robbie's side, realized that Robbie didn't have a pulse and began administering CPR. Several minutes p***ed before an ambulance arrived. Robbie was pronounced dead at the hospital. With two other young children, Jill Levine says she didn't give herself the option to become paralyzed with grief after her tragic loss. Instead, she took action. "I knew that Robbie could have had a chance if there was a defibrillator," she says.

So for the past 2½ years, Levine has dedicated herself to raising awareness about the need for these cardiac devices in youth sports, which she does through her Robbie Levine Foundation, co-founded with her husband.