A Life Gone To Early - Local School Honors Fallen Student with the Gray Solana Roundball Rumble

A Life Gone To Early - Local School Honors Fallen Student with the Gray Solana Roundball Rumble

The Gray Solana Roundball Rumble will be played November 30 through December 2 at St. Andrew's. Here is an excerpt from the Savannah Fellowship of Christian Athletes website
about Gray Solana, who passed away four days before his 15th birthday

“Graham Fontaine Solana, or 'Gray' as he was known, was born February 11, 2000 in Savannah, Georgia with a heart condition known as Long QT Syndrome. Once thought to be quite rare, it is now known that as many as 1 in 3000 people has it. LQTS is more prevalent than childhood leukemia, and is every bit as deadly. This is mainly because most people with it are unaware they have it. The only symptoms are fainting spells, and its’ main victims are kids up to age 25. LQTS is known to strike young athletes suddenly, so if you or anyone in your family has sudden onset fainting spells on or off the field, see a cardiologist right way. The only other symptom is sudden death. We were blessed to be aware of Grays’ condition, but he succumbed to it even though he was on medication and not doing anything strenuous at the time of his collapse. He was 4 days shy of his 15th birthday when it happened. He was just a great kid, and was 100% into whatever interested him. God, friends, family, his school (Saint Andrews’), UGA Football, and playing basketball were what he was all about.” A life gone to early.

The Rumble is a middle school and junior varsity basketball tournament. One of Gray’s passions in

life was to play hoops. The teams entered to support Gray’s memory in the tournament are Savannah Country Day School, Bethesda, Hancock and St. Andrews for Middle School Boys (they play on November 30). The Schedule is SCDS vs Bethesda at 5 pm and Hancock Day School vs St. Andrew's at 6 pm.

In the junior varsity division, the teams are Bethesda, Calvary, St. Andrews and Holy Trinity (a SCISAA team from Bluffton).

The tournament benefits:

1) The Savannah area chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (the Gray Solana FCA Camp Scholarship Fund that sends kids and coaches to sports camp in the summer

2) Sudden Arrythmia Death Syndromes Foundation (learn more at SADS.org). Gray died from SADS.

3) The Gray Solana Emerging Leader Award at St. Andrews School - people can also make donations to the Gray Solana Scholarship at https://saslions.com by clicking on “ GIVING “ and then “ONLINE GIVING” and scrolling down to the Scholarship area.

This event is one way of remembering Gray and helping others affected by this disease. Gray lives on in others and let’s show our support by attending, or you can go online and make a donation.

Note - pictures from Facebook &  Savannah FCA website