Wife of med student who died following cardiac arrest during basketball game speaks out: 'Worst pain'

Brenan Cullimore had a rare genetic condition, Brugada syndrome, that led to cardiac arrest. His wife wants to raise awareness of CPR, AEDs in saving lives.

In early March 2025, medical student Brenan Cullimore, 28, was playing a pick-up game of basketball with some friends when he felt faint.

“What I’ve been told is he suddenly was like, ‘I’m feeling dizzy,’” Abby Cullimore, 27, his wife, tells TODAY.com. “He laid down and all of a sudden he lost consciousness.”

His friend called 911 and an ambulance took him to a nearby hospital. Brenan Cullimore experienced cardiac arrest. Doctors placed him on ECMO, but he never regained consciousness and died two days later. His wife hopes to raise awareness of how CPR and AEDs can make a life-saving difference in cardiac arrest.  

“It is the worst pain I could have ever imagined,” she says. “If I can stop that from happening for somebody then I know me and my family and his family would like that.”

A basketball game takes a turn

Brenan and Abby Cullimore met when they were undergrads and went on a few dates in 2019. At the time, she didn’t think he was mature enough and “kind of blew him off.” But they reconnected in 2021 when Abby Cullimore was attending graduate school at the same university as his sister, and he was in town for a visit.

“We went and got pizza and just ran around New York City together and then didn’t stop talking ever since,” she says. “He’s an amazing person. He’s so funny and probably one of the goofiest people you will ever meet. Just one of those larger-than-life personalities who is so fun and outgoing and wants to be friends with everyone.” The couple married in October 2023. Brenan Cullimore had enrolled in medical school, and he dreamed of becoming a surgeon. At first, he thought he wanted to be a neurosurgeon but as he started his third-year rotations he had been thinking more about head and neck surgery.

“He’s very empathetic. He feels people’s pain very personally and very deeply,” she says. “He was just doing so well (in medical school) and patients loved him because of his personality.”

Outside of school, Brenan Cullimore loved watching sports and sometimes played basketball with friends. Before collapsing, he recently learned that he had the gene for something called Brugada syndrome. Years earlier, his brother was diagnosed with it after collapsing several times while playing basketball and the doctors urged Brenan Cullimore’s parents to have their other children tested for it.

“His parents had just recently told him, ‘Hey, you have the gene for Brugada,’” Abby Cullimore recalls. “He didn’t really know about that.”

Brugada syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that causes the ventricles — the lower chambers of the heart — to beat abnormally, what’s also called ventricular fibrillation (v-fib), according to Cleveland Clinic. Ventricular fibrillation can stop the heart from sending blood to the brain, which can cause fainting or even sudden death. Brugada syndrome is responsible for about 4% of sudden cardiac fatalities, Cleveland Clinic says.

When Brenan Cullimore lost consciousness on March 5 while playing basketball, his friends called 911 but they did not receive instructions about performing CPR. Eventually, they started compressions as they waited for 15 minutes for the ambulance to arrive.

“He was having arrhythmias, (ventricular tachycardia) and v-fib, alternating, as they shocked him and continued to provide compressions while they transported him to the hospital,” Abby Cullimore explains. “It was really sudden.”

About four years earlier, Brenan Cullimore fainted during a softball game, the only time he might have had a symptom associated with Brugada syndrome. At the time, he hadn’t eaten much that day and he chalked his dizziness up to that.  

“We weren’t thinking too much of it,” she says. “He’s also a medical student who gets very little sleep and doesn’t eat super well.” 

Symptoms of Brugada syndrome can include dizziness and fainting, Cleveland Clinic notes. Other signs can include:

• Abnormal heartbeats
• Trouble breathing
• Racing or fluttering heartbeats
• Cardiac arrest

Though 70% of people with Brugada syndrome are asymptomatic, the first symptom can be cardiac arrest.

At the hospital, doctors continued compressions trying to help Brenan Cullimore. Abby Cullimore works as a nurse practitioner so she understood what was happening, which was heart-wrenching.  

“I know obviously what it means if you’re not getting somebody’s heart rate back and the potential of how much oxygenation wasn’t going into his body for a prolonged period,” she says. “They told me, ‘He’s very very sick. We’re still doing compressions.’ So at this point, it probably has been 45 minutes since the initial loss of consciousness.”

Doctors placed Brenan Cullimore on ECMO, a machine that works for the heart and lungs so they can rest and recover, and he was admitted to the intensive care unit.

“He did regain his heart rhythm,” Abby Cullimore says. “He was having a weak heartbeat on his own.”

The next day, Brenan Cullimore's blood pressure destabilized and kept “tanking,” while inflammation in his brain continued building. By Friday, the EEG showed “no signs of brain activity.”

“We took him off life support,” Abby Cullimore says.

'Keep his spirit alive'

Brenan and Abby Cullimore didn’t comprehend what having the gene for Brugada syndrome meant for his health. Abby Cullimore wishes they would have received more education and counseling about it.

“We didn’t completely understand the severity of a genetic screening and that it meant it could present suddenly … with cardiac arrest,” she says. “That’s frustrating because Brenan is a very smart person, and he would have listened to the advice doctors gave him it if was provided — and it wasn’t.” 

Abby Cullimore also wants to highlight the importance of AED and CPR when it comes to cardiac arrest.

“Having access to defibrillators in places (where) people are playing sports should be a no-brainer,” she says. “People should also consider being trained in CPR if they’re able. It obviously can save lives.”

As she grieves, Abby Cullimore says that speaking about her husband and raising awareness of Brugada and bystander intervention in cardiac arrest helps in some small way.

“It gives us some sort of mission and purpose moving forward,” she says.

And, it’s what Brenan Cullimore would do.

“He befriended everyone and, yes, he would have wanted that, too,” she says. “We’re wanting to keep his spirit alive and never stop talking about him because he’s so amazing.”