Kids born with heart disease strut their stuff at charity fashion show

Moments before walking out to show off her pink dress, Gracelyn Miller stopped to pick up a red paper heart from off the floor.

The hearts, set along the floor of the Everal Barn in Westerville, were meant to show the models the path to walk along for the Conquering the Runway: Hero Heart Fashion Show. But 18-month-old Gracelyn of London had other designs for the heart.

"A very sharing, caring little girl," as her grandmother Tammy Quire called her, Gracelyn wanted to pass on the heart to the next model in line, 16-month-old Quincy Groves, who had donned a red shirt and a blue cape.

The two children were each born with multiple heart defects. Gracelyn had complex issues with different chambers of her heart being misformed, overdeveloped or underdeveloped. Quincy has a different combination of four conditions, known collectively as tetralogy of Fallot.

The fashion show was held for the second year by the Pediatric Congenital Heart Association in Ohio. Children and adults of all ages gather together to walk the runway of the paper hearts strewn across the floor, while having their stories told during a presentation.

By charging participation and admission fees, the event expects to raise between $3,000 and $5,000, saidkimi Kline, PCHA'S lead coordinator for central Ohio. The funds will help pay for care packages and support for families of congenital heart disease patients who are undergoing surgery. The proceeds also support the organization's events throughout the year.

But for Kline, whose daughter Macey has several congenital heart defects, the event is an opportunity for her daughter to be around friends she has made over the years.

"My daughter gets to be around kids that have scars like her and have been through the same thing," Kline said.

According to a release from PCHA, 1 in 100 babies born in the United States have congenital heart disease, which lasts for life and has no cure.

Chrissie Antonoplos, a Westerville resident who was diagnosed with atrial septal defect at age 24, said that it is great to see young children who have demonstrated "more resilience than I could have had" at their age get a chance to have less worries and more normal days.

"It gets your heart so gushy to see them living normally because you never know what's the next thing you have to endure," Antonoplos, now 40, said.

When the slideshow of the patients ended, it turned to Heart Warrior Angels, children who have died of congenital heart disease, including twoyounger than a year old.

But seeing adults like Antonoplos there and 54-year-old John Cole has inspired hope in many of the families, Quire said. She said this event gives her and her family a chance to see the normal lives of older children and adults who have survived with congenital heart disease.

"It gives you hope," Quire said."it gives you hope that she has a future where in the very beginning, you wonder about that."