Atchison High School student dies after being found unresponsive on track last week

ATCHISON, Kan. (WIBW) - A student who was taken to an area hospital after he was found unresponsive last week on the Atchison High School track has died, according to KAIR Radio.

The student, Rocky Delfs, died Wednesday morning, according to Renee Scott, Atchison Unified School District 409 superintendent.

Delfs was a sophomore at Atchison High School.

Scott confirmed to KAIR that Delfs was the student who was found unresponsive by a staff member after the school day had ended Aug. 26 on the Atchison High School track.

The school district earlier said that the student -- later identified as Delfs -- wasn’t taking part in a practice for a school-sponsored athletics team. However, the district said Delfs had been exercising before he was found on the track.

Delfs was taken to the hospital by Atchison County Emergency Medical Services.

In a news release issued Wednesday, Scott said Delfs suffered cardiac arrest “due to Brugada Syndrome while he working out,” according to KAIR.

According to webmd.com, Brugada Syndrome is described as a rare-but-serious condition that affects the heart’s normal rhythm and can make it beat too fast or in an irregular way. It can result in arrhythmia, a condition in which the heart can’t properly pump blood to the rest of the body.

Brugada Syndrome is one of the most common causes of heart-related sudden death in people who are otherwise young and healthy, webmd.com says, and it affects about 5 in 10,000 people worldwide.

The school’s Crisis Response Team has been made available to help students “work through any grief they may experience” following Delfs’ death.

The news release stated Delfs is to be an organ donor.

Information about memorial services for Delfs wasn’t available on Thursday morning.

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