Halifax clinic renamed in tribute to hockey player who died from rare heart disease

The clinic was renamed the Jordan Boyd Inherited Heart Disease Clinic during a ceremony at the Halifax's QEII Health Sciences Centre on Thursday.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Halifax’s QEII Health Sciences Centre on Thursday, as a heart disease clinic was renamed in honour of a 16-year-old hockey player who died as a result of an undiagnosed inherited heart condition in 2013.

Jordan Boyd, of Bedford, N.S., lost his life to an undetected disease known as Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy after collapsing on the ice during a training camp with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League on Aug. 12, 2013.

According to a QEII release, the clinic’s renaming — now dubbed the Jordan Boyd Inherited Heart Disease Clinic — comes as a recognition of Boyd’s legacy and his family’s fundraising efforts to help prevent sudden death from other cardiac arrest instances.

The family, in partnership with the QEII Foundation, raised $1.2 million in funding for “pivotal” research into inherited heart disease done at the clinic that is now named after Jordan Boyd, the research organization said in a statement.

“It’s a full circle moment for the Boyd family, whose journey began with a profound loss but evolved into a powerful movement and rallying point for change.”

The release notes that Boyd’s family has organized several community events including the Jordan Boyd Celebrity Hockey Challenge and Jordan Boyd Celebrity Golf Challenge to fund life-saving research for future families along with “countless initiatives” to raise awareness of and access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

AEDs are portable electronic devices used to assist someone experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest.

Greg Boyd, Jordan’s brother, attended the ceremony. He said seeing the sign unveiled on Thursday was the culmination of his family’s advocacy efforts following his brother’s death.