He was meant to be home for dinner.
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That's how it always was, after football practice Stephen Buckman would return home for dinner with the family.
But, a sudden cardiac arrest on-field in 2010, will mean the 19-year-old will never return home.
"Someone from the club rang me, they said 'Stephen's had an accident, come down'," his mother, Sue Buckman recalls.
Despite the best efforts of attending medics, without timely access to a defibrillator, Stephen died.
"I got there just as the ambulances were arriving, but it was too late. He was already dead, they said at the hospital he was brain dead."
Raised in an exceptionally sporty family, Stephen spent his summers playing cricket and his winters playing AFL.
"He had never shown any sign of a problem until that day, he was never even sick," Ms Buckman said.
Following the autopsy, Ms Buckman was informed of a pre-existing heart condition, a 'ticking time bomb'.
As time progressed, Stephen's death would even prove to save the life of his younger sister.
"Stephen's brother, Michael, he was 15 at the time, and had no issues with his heart. The genetic problem missed him," Ms Buckman said.
"But his sister, she was 14, and we found the condition in her. She now has a defibrillator implanted in her heart."
Herself a devotee of equestrian sports and netball, Ashlea Buckman was flying dangerously close to re-enacting her brother's fate.
"Her defibrillator has gone off twice since she's had it in," Ms Buckman said.
"Potentially, I could have lost my daughter just months after losing my son."
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On that day nine years ago, Ms Buckman's life turned on its axle.
In the decade since, she has campaigned with Defib For Life, for defribrillators to be made available on all sporting grounds around the nation.
Currently residing near Melbourne, Ms Buckman said Wagga is close to leading the way on the issue.
"Wagga's very lucky, there's a good proportion of defibs at sporting grounds, but there's still a lot of work to do," she said.
"We want to make Wagga an entirely heart-safe city, with defibs in all public places. We're getting there, but sadly it takes someone to go through something like this before they stand up and do something about it."
Joining Ms Buckman on the campaign to improve Wagga's heart health is Lake Albert resident Jane Nolan.
Almost four years ago, Ms Nolan suffered her own episode of cardiac arrest.
"I woke up and I felt like there was a pin going through my chest, and my immediate thought was that I had breast cancer," she said.
The pains came and went regularly, and aside from one that she describes as having "taken my breath away, it was that sharp", they were largely gone within a millisecond.
"There was no crushing feeling, there was no shooting pains up and down the arm, and I've since found out, women very rarely get those feelings," she said.
"For women, they call it the 'four o'clock death'. You wake up in the early morning with a sharp pain, then you go back to sleep and the next time the pain comes, you don't wake up."
At the time, the 56-year-old Ms Nolan was regularly completing the 5km round-trip circuit of Lake Albert in just over an hour.
She was attending zumba classes and aqua aerobics.
"I'm fit, I'm healthy. I'm a good weight range, I've never smoked and I have good cholesteral, and still, I went into cardiac arrest," she said.
"It really does not matter how fit you are. My personal trainer had one too, he was only about 40. It was a couple days after his wedding, and it was a big one. What they call 'the widow-maker'."
Dismissed by other general practitioners, Ms Nolan sought the advice of Professor Gerard Carroll, principal cardiac specialist at Riverina Cardiology. It was his care, Ms Nolan said, that "absolutely saved my life".
Professor Carroll found Ms Nolan's attack was caused by a blockage in the arteries, which he said is one of the more common situations.
"The most common cause in people over 45 is unrecognised coronary disease, that is a blockage in the arteries," he said.
That, he estimates, is responsible for up to 30 per cent of deaths nationwide.
Data released by the Heart Foundation this week found the number of heart attack-related hospitalisations Wagga exceeds the state average.
Up to 67 in every 10,000 people in Wagga will experience a stroke, compared to 48 in every 10,000 statewide.
While in the Riverina, the Stroke Foundation said up to 410 people will experience a stroke this year.
"In young people, it is particularly tragic but it can be a result of a whole range of problems. It could be cardiomyopathy, that is a weakness in the heart muscle, or it could be an inherited genetic problem causing a funny rhythm," he said.
"Sometimes, the first manifestation is a sudden collapse."
Describing the genetic risk as a 'faulty fuse box', Professor Carroll assured that roughly one in 10,000 might suffer this hidden defect. Though it often goes undiagnosed but because it is difficult to assess.
"If someone's looking for the problem, they will find it. But it's unlikely that a fit and healthy young person will say to their GP, 'check my heart, is my heart OK?'"
"It would be excessive to suggest that every young person should be accessed by a specialist. If you have the family history of early death due to heart problems, or if you're showing any of the risk signs, get checked."
For young people, the main symptom, Professor Carroll said is "sudden and unexplained blackouts".
Meanwhile, in people over 40 it is common to experience shortness of breath, dizzyness and irregular chest pains.
But even with the prevalence of heart conditions and arrests, Professor Carroll said the circumstances surrounding 19-year-old Stephen Buckman's death are extraordinarily rare.
"There's no evidence to suggest it's increasing, and it's actually rare in relation to how many sports are being played," he said.
"But it's constant. It will be a small number, but [nationwide] every year there will be one."