July 10, 2017

It's not too often that we see a professional athlete who makes the news for exemplary conduct off the court, but Tina Charles sets a fine example for young girls who aspire to play pro-ball.

For the last two seasons, the NY Liberty star has donated her entire salary to a charity she founded, Hopey's Heart Foundation. She was touched by heart disease when her aunt died from cardiac arrest. Unaware of this medical issue, she learned more about preventing death from a sudden heart attack.

She was motivated to take action to stop future tragedies when she learned about high school basketball player Wes Leonard. The high school junior died from sudden cardiac episode. No one had a clue he had an enlarged heart, until he collapsed. Tina was 100% focused on a mission to prevent this sort of tragedy from happening again, by educating young people That education includes the use and the supply of AEDs to metropolitan NY area schools and beyond.

Charles is a former WNBA MVP and the NY Liberty’s unquestioned star. But she knows exactly what she’d be doing if she didn’t pursue a career on the hardwood.

“If I wasn’t a basketball player, I’d be doing non-profit work,” Charles said.

Charles has her own foundation, Hopey’s Heart, which helps raise awareness for sudden cardiac arrest.

Education in any form is beneficial, and we can't count on folks heading up our education and healthcare departments like Betsy DeVos or Tom Price to do one iota to benefit America's youth. Thanks to Tina Charles for her part in saving lives and teaching what every athlete or participant should know.

With all the dystopian misanthropic nonsense we hear from Trump and his gang of criminals, this is exactly the kind of human-kindness story the news should cover more often, right?

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