Money raised by walkers is saving lives
The wrist device that counts your steps will one day warn you of a deadly irregular heartbeat you don’t feel.
Every year, 14-year-old Jack Reynolds’ life expectancy goes up despite his congenital heart defect, his mother said.
Both advances are the result of research, and research costs money.
That, plus perfect weather and camaraderie drew 30,000 people on Saturday morning to the Columbus Commons for this year’s American Heart Association Heart Walk.
Sponsored by the association’s central Ohio chapter, the 1- and 3-mile walks raised $1.8 million this year, said Beth Tyburski, senior director of development for the local association. The association raised a total of $3.7 million its last fiscal year and received $4.7 million back from the national headquarters, she said.
There were 114 corporate sponsors and 116 community teams for Saturday’s walk, Tyburski said.
Need another example of how financed research is critical?
When Dr. B.J. Hicks graduated from medical school, stroke was the No. 3 cause of death. When he completed his neurology training, it was No. 4.
“Today, it’s No. 5,” said Hicks, a stroke neurologist at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital and board president of the association’s central Ohio chapter.
With the National Institutes of Health possibly facing a budget cut, fundraising becomes even more important, he said. Next to the NIH, the American Heart Association is No. 2 in the amount of money raised for heart and stroke research, he said.
Hicks was chatting with his “favorite patient” and heart/ stroke survivor, Arlene Cucculelli, 70.
“He’s my hero,” Cucculelli said of the doctor, who has cared for her since her stroke 4 ½ years ago. She said she sees improvement every day.
Cucculelli was one of the celebrated survivors who completed their 1-mile walk and received a survivors medal.
So was Jack Reynolds. A student at Dublin’s Karrer Middle School, Jack had four open-heart surgeries by the time he was 10 years old, said his mother, Lori Reynolds.
He was born a “blue baby,” suffering from a birth defect in which oxygen-poor blood is pumped to the body through a hole in the wall between the right and left ventricle instead of being pumped to the lungs.
“This is something facing him for the rest of his life,” Mrs. Reynolds said. The stress ebbs and flows for her and her husband, John, who once was treated for an aneurysm in his aorta.
“It depends on what the doctor says at the latest checkup,” she said.
But every year Jack is expected to live longer than before. “And he joined the cross country team this year,” Mrs. Reynolds said.
While heart-throbbing upbeat music played, Andrew and Marjorie Scott of Springfield were preparing to step off on the 3-mile walk.
Mr. Scott’s grandmother, Virginia Couts, died of heart disease in 2003, two weeks after he entered Ohio State University.
“I always wanted to do something to get involved and when this came up it really hit home,” he said. Mr. Scott, 32, has been participating since 2011.
Mrs. Scott, 29, joined him when they married three years ago. Her grandmother and mother had quadruple bypasses. Mom “is doing well and is active,” she said. “She’s healthier now than she was then.”
Hicks was heartened to see the large crowd Saturday. Years ago there was little that could be done for birth defects, he said. They were fatal.
Now, donations have helped develop new surgical technology and noninvasive techniques, Hicks said, so kids like Jack have a chance at a long life.