Rhonda Fincher's thirteen-year-old son, Kendrick, collapsed during an August pre-season football practice. Kendrick was rushed to the hospital, and for the next eighteen days his family waited anxiously for him to regain consciousness. Tragically, he did not. On August 25, 1995, he died from multi-system organ failure as a result of heat stroke.

In the aftermath of their loss, Kendrick’s parents pressured their local school district to change its procedures with respect to providing adequate hydration at all athletic activities. They also founded the Kendrick Fincher Memorial Foundation to raise awareness about the potentially deadly consequences of dehydration for student athletes and to provide schools with the information and equipment they need to ensure that other students do not suffer heat stroke.

A recent study found that seventy percent of after-school athletes arrive on the playing field already dehydrated. Rhonda, who serves as the foundation’s full-time executive director, notes that children "are not equipped" to handle heat as well as adults. In fact, children absorb more heat from their environment than adults because they have a greater surface area to body mass ratio. With this in mind, the foundation oversees the following:

• Consultation with school district athletic programs to ensure they have procedures in place to prevent heat illness


• Hydration and heat illness education at local health fairs


• "Cool huts," e.g., misting stations with free ice water during community events


• Annual Youth Run, at which hydration and heat illness prevention are taught

The foundation has also distributed more than one hundred and thirty thousand squeeze bottles, and accompanying heat illness prevention pamphlets, to children and athletes throughout the United States.

As a result of the foundation's efforts, Rhonda Fincher has successfully changed many school athletics procedures at the local, state, and national level. She is motivated by one thought: that no other parent should have to experience the heartache over the preventable death of his or her child.

To learn more about Rhonda Fincher and her cause, and how you can make a difference, please visit: www.kendrickfincher.org.

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