Joining the PwC Boston team for the Heart Walk will hit differently this year, after losing our Dad last November.

This is my sixth year walking for heart disease research — and I've never been more certain it matters. Research sponsored by organizations like the American Heart Association gave us a bonus five years with our Dad, our kids' Pepere. Advancements like defibrillators, LVADs, and RVADs are the reason we got those extra years: birthdays, holidays, ordinary afternoons that our kids will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

That same research has touched our family again and again. It helped my Godfather, Uncle Marcus. And it's helping my father-in-law and cousins, who are all still fighting today.

I know that every step makes a difference in someone's life. Combined with a million other Heart Walk Heroes across the country, those steps add up to something much bigger — real progress toward curing heart disease and stroke. Your donation funds the next generation of research that helps people live longer, healthier lives.

If you haven't already, please consider donating directly on my page.

And thank you — truly — for your generosity, and for keeping Pepere in your prayers all those years. It worked.