the heart walk is tomorrow, and as my company leader and member of the local AHA heart walk committee this year, i have a million things running through my head. did team members get their t-shirts in time? does everyone know about our meeting time and place? have i validated my donation records with the website totals? i've counted and recounted the cash and checks we received from our last fundraiser this week, still determined to hit our goal.
yesterday afternoon, i received word that i was needed as a photographer for the event, so now on top of everything else that has to be done in the morning the very minute i get there (registration; donation submission; material distribution; rounding up my family and the group/counting heads; making sure everyone's in line for the team photo, not to mention figuring out how i'm going to jump into my own team photo; all of which occurs before the walk itself!), i will now be required to arrive even earlier than scheduled, and did i mention i'm not a morning person?
luckily, i have help (which i graciously "volunteered" my husband and wonderful committee members for), and i just have to keep reminding myself that this is all for an amazing cause. and to breathe, too.
this year, our committee came up with the idea to invite members of the team to share their story, in order to connect the event and the cause to our company on a more personal level. our local AHA always features a 'face of heart' to represent the walk each year, so we took that idea and expanded it. the stories that have come out of these segments are extraordinary and incredibly moving (as in, i cried when i read all of them). so i think now would be a good time to mention how i become involved with the heart walk and why i do what i do.
it all started in april of 2009. i was on a trip with my best friend in london. we were in a pub enjoying some great food and loud music when i received a call from my husband. almost instantly i knew something was wrong... he wouldn't have called unless it was for an emergency, because of international roaming fees and all. my husband's voice had an edge to it, and i had to pull myself into the street to hear him and then take a few moments to acclimate myself, match my not-so-serious atmosphere to his much-too-serious tone.
"my dad is in the hospital," he said.
"is he okay?" i asked, stupidly. how else do you respond to that, though?
"he went in with tachycardia."
"is that when your heart beats too fast?"
"yeah."
and that is what started it all.
after he filled me in on the details of my father-in-law's condition, i never felt further away from my husband than i did in that moment. i could have been a million miles away. i was helpless, wanting to be there for him, wanting immensely to hold him and tell him things would be okay. but would they? there was no way of knowing.
a couple of days later, i was on a plane back home, and then picked up and driven straight to the hospital, fatigued and jetlagged. but i would grow more weary after my visit. there's something disconcerting about seeing a parent in a hospital bed, someone who you assume is healthy and strong, built solid, in a generic gown. it stirred something within me; i had never even taken the time to contemplate heart disease or stroke or other heart-related conditions since i was so focused on other killers (based on family history), like cancer. but that is always the way, isn't it... to be ignorant and unaware until something happens, forces you to wake up, like a slap in the face.
my FIL underwent 2 procedures to pinpoint his arrhythmias. the first was a femoral catheterization to check for blockages (and luckily there were none). next he had a cardiac ablation which appeared to fix his heart flutter. he was kept in the hospital for more tests and closely monitored. with each new test or procedure, there seemed to be another problem to fix. the whole experience was frightening and difficult, and all we could do was wait. finally, it was determined that he had atrial fibrillation and this would be managed with medications.
not even a week later, my company announced that we would be participating in the heart walk that year. i immediately signed up as a team captain, which by the next year had morphed into the company leader, and now in my third year of being involved, i also volunteer as a member of the official heart walk committee which plans the entire event.
tomorrow is the first time that my FIL will actually be walking with us, and i couldn't be happier. this is why the cause is so close to my heart, literally. i will be walking for him and all my coworkers and their families with their incredible survival stories, and for everyone affected in some way by cardiovascular disease.
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