Kayla Burt was in the middle of her sophomore season as a starting guard on the UW women's basketball team when she experienced a life-changing event.

On Dec. 31, 2002, she collapsed at her house while hanging out with teammates on New Year's Eve.

Two teammates immediately began CPR and paramedics soon arrived to shock her heart back into normal sinus rhythm.

She was in a coma for 15 hours and spent several days recovering at UW Medical Center. Six days after collapsing, she had an ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator) placed in her chest to shock her heart back to a normal rhythm should another arrhythmia ever occur again.

Burt returned to the court for the Huskies, but then had to end her basketball career early.

After graduating from UW in 2006, Burt spent time as an assistant women's basketball coach at the University of Portland. She later worked as an EMT in south King County and as a medical/surgical technician in the ER at Valley Medical Center.

Currently, she is an outreach coordinator at The Hope Heart Institute.

February is Heart Health Awareness Month and on Thursday the UW women will be hosting a Heart Health Awareness Night at Alaska Airlines Arena when they take on Oregon.

Burt discussed her playing days at UW, raising awareness in the community about heart disease, sudden cardiac arrest and prevention in a live chat on Feb. 8.