When I first became a coach for the Heart Walk, I did it as part of my job. I believed in the mission, but I hadn’t yet lived it. Then everything changed.

I’ll never forget the day I got the call that my grandmother had a stroke. I was pulling into the parking garage at work. She recovered for a while, but after a fall, her health began to decline. She suffered additional strokes that slowly took away her mobility, her speech — and eventually, her life. Watching that progression firsthand gave me a deeper understanding of just how devastating stroke can be.

Then on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, my world shifted again. My husband, only 44 years old, thought he was having a heart attack. While it wasn’t a heart attack, the paramedics noticed something abnormal in his EKG. We went straight to UAB Hospital — not just because I work there, but because I knew the people, the care, and the heart behind the team. A few days later, he was diagnosed with severe coronary artery disease and underwent surgery.

It was terrifying. But what brought me peace was knowing he was in the hands of the same incredible people I work alongside every day — doctors, nurses, EVS workers, kitchen staff — a team that shows up for their patients with excellence and compassion.

My husband is not the picture of someone you’d expect to have heart issues. He eats better than anyone I know — chicken, rice, and steamed broccoli like clockwork. But his challenge was genetic, not lifestyle-based. That’s why I walk: to raise awareness that heart disease doesn’t discriminate. It can affect anyone, at any age.

I walk to honor my grandmother.
I walk in gratitude for my husband’s second chance.
I walk for the amazing team at UAB Hospital.
And I walk so that our community knows the truth — that heart disease is real, it’s serious, and it’s something we can fight together.