Innsbrook heart walkers step up to healthy lifestyles
By WESLEY P. HESTER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Richmond Times Oct 26, 2008
Bobby Coleman was at the front of a pack of 5,000 finishing up a rainy 3-mile walk through Innsbrook yesterday morning. He did it in about a half-hour. Not bad for a guy who underwent sixtuple-bypass surgery in June.
"This feels great," Coleman said of the Start! Richmond Heart Walk, an annual event led by the American Heart Association.
"One of my goals after surgery was to get out moving around and playing some golf by the end of the year," said Coleman, 52, of Richmond. "I played nine holes yesterday."
This is the first year the Heart Walk has been held at Innsbrook, with the course looping on trails around the lake and back to the Pavilion. The event is aimed at raising funds and awareness to fight heart disease and stroke research.
"It's also a celebration of the lifestyle changes people have made over the last year to stay healthy," said Michelle Nostheide, a marketing director with the American Heart Association.
Nostheide said the day's goal was to raise $850,000.
Jodi Lemacks and Karen Ward spent the day working the booth for Mended Little Hearts, a support group for families of children with heart defects.
Lemacks has a 5-year-old son, Josh, who is missing a left ventricle, and Ward has a 2-year-old daughter, Jameson, with the same condition.
Neither can be cured, Lemacks said, but operations can prolong their lives.
"We have support groups full of kids who've had more surgeries than you want to think about and parents who are a mess," Lemacks said.
"But there's a lot of healing and understanding in finding that there are other people out there who get it."
After the walk, survivors mingled with sponsors and friends, reading stories from a tribute wall for those lost.
By WESLEY P. HESTER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Richmond Times Oct 26, 2008
Bobby Coleman was at the front of a pack of 5,000 finishing up a rainy 3-mile walk through Innsbrook yesterday morning. He did it in about a half-hour. Not bad for a guy who underwent sixtuple-bypass surgery in June.
"This feels great," Coleman said of the Start! Richmond Heart Walk, an annual event led by the American Heart Association.
"One of my goals after surgery was to get out moving around and playing some golf by the end of the year," said Coleman, 52, of Richmond. "I played nine holes yesterday."
This is the first year the Heart Walk has been held at Innsbrook, with the course looping on trails around the lake and back to the Pavilion. The event is aimed at raising funds and awareness to fight heart disease and stroke research.
"It's also a celebration of the lifestyle changes people have made over the last year to stay healthy," said Michelle Nostheide, a marketing director with the American Heart Association.
Nostheide said the day's goal was to raise $850,000.
Jodi Lemacks and Karen Ward spent the day working the booth for Mended Little Hearts, a support group for families of children with heart defects.
Lemacks has a 5-year-old son, Josh, who is missing a left ventricle, and Ward has a 2-year-old daughter, Jameson, with the same condition.
Neither can be cured, Lemacks said, but operations can prolong their lives.
"We have support groups full of kids who've had more surgeries than you want to think about and parents who are a mess," Lemacks said.
"But there's a lot of healing and understanding in finding that there are other people out there who get it."
After the walk, survivors mingled with sponsors and friends, reading stories from a tribute wall for those lost.
