Learn, test, share: Daniel Project hosts event to raise HCM awareness

The Daniel Project, a subsidiary of The Paul Meyers foundation, will hold its 4th Annual Wine and Craft Beer Showcase Oct. 26 at 6 p.m.

The event, which will take place at the Country Club in Vestavia, benefits a charity honoring Daniel Ajlouny, who died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at the age of 21.

“He was a healthy young man with no signs or symptoms. We had no clue. That’s the scary part,” said Daniel’s mother, Pam Ajlouny. “It’s hard for a mother to accept that her child had something like that and they had no idea.”

Ajlouny said the goal of the event is to “raise awareness of HCM and how it affects people.”

“It’s more common than people think,” she said. “About one in every 500 people have it and don’t know, and it is the most common reason of people under the age of 40 to die of a cardiac issue.”

Ajlouny said the event is one part of addressing a larger issue: building a relationship with the medical community and educating people about HCM.

“We are working to create a task force for sudden cardiac deaths,” Ajlouny said. “Our main goal is to be able to identify these children before they have an episode … because [HCM] is treatable. It is detectable. And the most common symptom is sudden death.”

Proceeds for the event will fund screenings for individuals with HCM symptoms.

“‘Learn, test, share’ is my motto,” Ajlouny said. “Learn all you can, then get tested and then share the information with everybody that you can.”

Tickets for the event are $50 and include complimentary wines, craft beers and unlimited appetizers from various companies. To learn more about the Daniel Project, visit paulmeyersfoundation.com/the-daniel-project.