This year's American Heart Association Heart Walk was very successful!! There were over 13,000 people that came out and walked, and more than 1.7 million dollars was raised to fight cardiovascular disease, stroke, and congenital heart defects. I think that this is the biggest Heart Walk Nashville yet!
Our team, Little Heart Heroes, which is made up of the Clinkscales (Cain), the Dabits (Nadia), and us, also had our biggest year yet! Our team had around 60 people walking and $6, 935 in donations!!! $3,510 of that total was donated in honor of our little Colby!! We cannot thank all of you enough for the tremendous support that you continue to show Colby and our family!! God has blessed us with some amazing friends and family, and I am extremely thankful for all of you!
Nadia is in the hospital waiting on her new heart, but the heart walk would not have been complete without her sweet smile. So, Catherine and I had a picture of her printed to make a sign, and Colby was so excited to hold it up and show her off. We love you Nadia!!!
Thank you to our friends and family that came and walked in support of Colby! It was a little chilly at first, but it warmed up quickly and turned out to be a beautiful day!!
I was so happy that Nadia's family came out and walked. Suha's sisters from Germany were even able to be there! We love the Dabits and honestly feel like they are a part of our family. Please continue to keep Nadia in your prayers as she awaits the greatest gift of all, and keep her family in your prayers. I know this extended time in the hospital is very tough on all of them, especially her awesome big brother Justin!
They boys are always excited to see Champ and give him a big hug! Seeing Shrek at the Heart Walk was an added bonus!!
Colby wore his survivor red hat with pride and loved posing in the Survivor Picture before the walk started. He also loved the stage...he went right up and started talking to John Dwyer of News Channel 2, who was emceeing the event. I'm pretty sure he would have gone right up on stage if he had the chance. He is definitely not a shy guy!!
The boys loved signing the Memorial Wall!
The walk finally begins, and Colby led us out with our team sign. When he wasn't walking, he was on either Coach Will's shoulders or Mr. David's shoulders having a great time! Thanks to Will and David for being such great sports!! They also had to carry Brody some, who weighs twice what Colby weighs!!
When the finish line was in sight, Colby decided to run. He said he wanted to finish his "race" fast! I actually had to jog just to keep up with him! We are so thankful that he is healthy and able to run, which we know would not be possible without God, his doctors and surgeons, and the incredible research that has been done and continues to be done on CHDs. Jason and I try to never take for granted the little things that we were once told Colby might not be able to do. Like our shirts say, "Half the Heart, Twice the Fight!"
Colby and Brody had a great time with the life size poster cut outs of Colby!! I love that the AHA made these of many of the survivors. They looked so good and are a great tribute to all of these heroes!
Thank you again to everyone who supported Colby in this year's Heart Walk! We also want to thank our great friends, Ryan and Shelly Calonge of Richards and Southern for making our shirts this year! We love the shirts and greatly appreciate the Calonges!!!!
We are already looking forward to next year's Heart Walk!!
