emlykate: (Default)
I had this all finished, was previewing for format and then, what do you know? My computer ceases to be connected to the internet and ate my entire update. So... here we go again.

American Heart Association
Heart Walk 2005


I've been in Louisville, Kentucky for a year now, and have been working in a large hospital downtown. I regularly work with patients of varying levels, including intensive care, transitional care and general med/surg. In the last year, my eyes have been opened to the devastation that patients and families are subjected to by heart disease and stroke. I've seen once fully capable men and women reduced to someone who requires 24 hour care and will never again be the person that they were before their illness. I've also worked with men and women who walked out of the hospital with a second chance at life. I can estimate that I work with approximately 1-3 patients per day who are in the hospital as a direct result of or complications from heart disease or stroke.

Since I've been away from home, I've spent more time exploring my family history, learning about people that I only know from pictures and stories. The only memory that I have of my grandfather is that I love the smell of pipe smoke, that it makes me feel safe and at home. He died of complications related to heart disease when I was 2 years old. When I think of him, I think of photographs of someone called "Don", rather than as "Grandpa" because I never had the opportunity to know him. No child should ever have to grow up with only pictures of their grandfather, they should be able to develop a relationship with him, and get to know him. Unfortunately, this story isn't uncommon. In fact it's all too common because heart disease is the number one killer of adults in the United States. On the other side of my family, my Grammy's sister, Holly, had a stroke at a relatively young age, and then lived on for many years afterward. As a number of you know, my sister was born with a congenital heart defect and had open heart surgery as a child.

Everyone knows someone affected by heart disease or stroke. For those I love, I will be walking in this year’s Heart Walk. I have set a personal goal to raise funds for the American Heart Association and need your help to reach my donation goal. We are raising critical dollars for heart disease and stroke research and education.

You can help me reach my goal by making a donation online. My personal donation page is set up to allow you to make a secure online credit card donation. The American Heart Association's online fundraising website has a minimum donation amount of $25.00. If you prefer to donate less, you can do so by sending a check directly to me.

Your donation will help fight our nation’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers—heart disease and stroke. You are making a difference. Thank you for your support.
emlykate: (Default)
This year, I am team captain for our department Heart Walk team. I will be editing this at a later date to fully update, but I wanted to get started now. I do have a personal website set up capable of taking donations. That can be located here: http://heartwalk.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=92204&u=92204-90679258&e=347537364

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Emlykate

October 2011

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