Are cardiac problems in FA somewhat under-recognized?

Almost all the publications on this disease are on the neurologic impact, but heart disease is what kills people. Unfortunately, it sometimes doesn’t get much attention until the patients have severe heart failure. [Heart “failure” means the heart can’t pump sufficient blood to sustain normal body functions. It doesn’t mean sudden cardiac arrest.]
Typically in Friedreich’s ataxia, a child who’s been athletic, running, and playing, begins to become more clumsy or lose his or her coordination. The parents eventually become alarmed and take the child to a neurologist, who may or may not refer them to a cardiologist, because it isn’t always known that the heart is involved.
In reality, any patient who has a diagnosis of Friedreich’s ataxia who hasn’t seen a cardiologist needs to get to one pretty quickly.