I've had my own personal journey with heart issues over the last 9 months.

My family has a strong history of cardiovascular issues, but mine has been different and seemingly came out of nowhere, at an unrelated medical check-up. I've learned a lot and had opportunity to receive care from all or almost all the cardiac specialty groups as they've endeavored to figure out why I've had these issues and how best to treat them.

I have not experienced cardiac arrest but I now have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) to protect me from that risk, which my condition presents. I'm also paced 100% of the time, to correct an electrical timing delay in my heart.

I walk to bring awareness that heart conditions aren't always visible on the outside and that they do not always show up in sudden events. They can occur due to genetics or for reasons not yet known to science. They can occur in people of all ages, and they don't always bear the same outwardly observable symptoms.