Jordan Rasmussen, Dubuque                                                                                                                                                                      May 6, 2009

The 17th Annual Dubuque Heart Association Start Walk was held last Saturday at the River walk.  With over 700 people walking to raise awareness, a fourth of the walkers were survivors.

One of the survivors, Benjamin Kuhl led the opening ceremony and cut the red ribbon for a reason.  Ben was born with a missing ventricle, and thanks to tools and techniques of the American Heart Association, Bens life was saved.  Ben’s mother, Lisa Kuhl was there to walk with her son.

Kuhl says, “He is a very active little boy; you don’t know that he has a congenital heart defect, unless you see the very faint scare on his chest.”

The Kuhl family walked a mile along the river with other survivors, all supported by friends and family.  The start walk is just a start to make people aware of heart disease.  Director Jennifer Hernandez helps raise awareness of heart disease, and is always moving.

Jennifer said, “The start walk is-The call to American’s to get out, and move, just exercise, start moving, start today, start your life, start living healthier.”

The walk was for all ages.  People brought their dogs, pushed their children in strollers and some even jogged. The walk was a way to bring smiles to people’s faces.  For Jennifer, “It’s a survivor’s event and people come out to support them and it’s amazing.”

After the walk, participants enjoyed lunch and listened to music.  Kuhl was happy with the turn out of the day and said, “There were so many people here, and it was just awesome to see everybody, and it was awesome we had such good weather, and it was just great to see the sea of people walking out here today.”

The Heart Walk is a great start to become aware and with just an hour of exercise, you are gaining two hours of life expectancy.  The heart walk raised $80,000, and for the next two weeks you can still donate by visiting the Dubuque Heart Walk website at www.heartwalk.kintera.org.

Thank you to everyone who donated and participated, the mission can’t be achieved without your help!  If you have any questions about the Dubuque Heart Start Walk, contact Jennifer.Hernandez@heart.org for more information.

Jordan Rasmussen can be contacted at jordan.rasmussen@loras.edu

DUBUQUE – John Walsh has been a runner his whole life. “I usually run somewhere between thirty five and forty miles a week,” says John. But his lifestyle was put on hold last year. “I woke up about four o’clock in the morning, and I had chest pains,” says John.

John drove himself and his wife to find out what was wrong. “She was kind of freaked out when we pulled up to the hospital,” adds John.

When they arrived, John explained that he was a lifelong runner and always demonstrated a healthy diet. “There really wasn’t any reason why, one would think I was a candidate for a heart attack,” says John. But to John’s surprise, “he [the doctor] looked right at me and said Mr. Walsh, I’m reading your EKG you’re in the middle of an acute heart arrack right now.”

John’s daughter Kim describes the emotions she and her family went through that day. “It was a surprise for all of us, it was the worst day of my life,” says Kim.

Following his initial stint surgery, John had some tough months ahead of him. “When he had chest pains again, again we were surprised,” adds Kim.

Six months latter John had open heart surgery. The quadruple bypass performed on John enabled better blood flow to his heart, and allowed him to get on with life as usual. “I am feeling great now, running six miles a day again, and no symptoms; so that is good,” says John.

John’s story is just one of the many that has inspired people in Dubuque to participate in the annual heart walk benefit taking place this Saturday. “It goes toward local research and community education programs,” says regional director Kristen Anderson.

Although you may not know anyone who suffers from a cardiovascular disease, those who do can give you one reason to support the cause. “He is back to leading his full life,” says Kim.

The Heart Walk will take place Saturday, May 1, 2008 at Heritage Trail from 8:00am to 12:00pm. If you would like to be a part of the walk or make a donation contact Kristen Anderson at 651-295-4460.

Nichole Hayden can be reached at Nichole.Hayden@lctv13.com