Health_Sept16

GIVE A LITTLE LOVE
TO ALL HEARTS
JOIN THE 2016 FIRST COAST
HEART WALK
Robert Hill, President and Chief Executive Officer
at Acosta, and this year’s volunteer First Coast
Heart Walk Chairman, says Ryleigh Walker’s
story is one that resonates with all of us.
“Ryleigh’s story shows that the work of the
American Heart Association is so critical in
our community, and why the education and
resources the association provides to our local
community is important. Heart health affects
everyone from children of very young ages such
as Ryleigh, to our aging parents. Ryleigh’s story
helps to remind us with the proper awareness,
education and resources that good outcomes
can happen.”
Visit firstcoastheartwalk.org to register for the
2016 Heart Walk on September 17.
Ryleigh and her parents Craig and Lee Ann with her brother Cael.
sister zooms around the family’s living
room, jumping on and off the furniture.
“She’s fun to play with and she’s really
hyper — in many ways,” he says. “She
has ten times as much energy as me.”
“She likes to pretend she can fly,” Lee
Ann says. She is also in an advanced
class in her preschool. And she is at a
normal weight and height because she
has always had a healthy appetite. At
this point she is being monitored until
she is old enough for another open heart
surgery to repair her ongoing issues.
Ryleigh is also this year’s Ambassador
for the American Heart Association’s
Heart Walk on September 17 at
Jacksonville’s Metropolitan Park. Last
year, she and her family participated
in the event that raises awareness and
funds for heart disease research. This
year, she is literally its poster child, and
proudly so.
As a child living with heart disease
and thriving despite it, “she’s the face of
the campaign this year,” Lee Ann says.
She’ll lead the walk, wearing a cape just
like all the other children in the “zipper
club,” those who have had open heart
surgery and have the scars to prove it.
“I’ve always been an advocate for
social change, so when Ryleigh was
born, I got involved with support
groups,” Lee Ann says. She’s still an
advocate, for congenital heart disease,
which is a major way she copes with her
daughter’s condition.
According to the AHA website, about
40,000 children are born with a heart
Ryleigh Walker is now 4 years old and a
bundle of energy.
Seventy years ago, only 15 percent of babies
with congenital heart defects made it to
adulthood. Now, more than 90 percent do.
22 First Coast Health Source Fall 2016