When I was asked to serve as a Heart Walk coach, my first thought was, “Heart disease hasn’t really affected my life all that much.” Whenever someone asks about my family’s health history, my mind immediately goes to cancer, but then I stopped and really thought about it.

I realized heart disease has shaped my life more than I ever imagined.

My dad is 82 years old. Just over a year ago, at age 81, he could barely climb a flight of stairs because of his failing heart valve. Today, thanks to a new heart valve he received less than a year ago, he walked more than a mile with me over hills and through the woods in 95-degree heat on the Fourth of July just to show me the sunflower field he planted on our "His...LOL" dove field.

A few weeks earlier, we played all 64 holes of our Member-Guest golf tournament on one of the hilliest courses around. We won our flight because of how HE finished on the final holes.

I would never have those memories with my best friend without the "now routine and minimally invasive, heart valve replacement procedure".

Then I thought about others.
One of my closest friends was in his 30s when blood clots caused his heart to stop multiple times on the Covid Christmas morning while he was sitting with his young children opening Santa presents. Today, I’ve been blessed to share family vacations, all-night last-minute drives to University of Georgia SEC and national championship games, golf tournaments, and countless other memories with him that would not have happened.

I thought about another one of our lifelong friends whose son (just graduated from Vanderbilt) had open heart surgery as an infant, a coworker’s son who received the gift of a new heart, a coworker whose wife survived heart failure and a lifelong family friend who wasn’t as fortunate and never made it home to his children from a Christmas shopping trip.

The names just kept coming and "That’s when it hit me."

Heart disease isn’t someone else’s story...

It’s my family’s story,

It’s my friends’ story.

It’s my coworkers’ story.

And chances are…it’s your story too.

Behind every breakthrough is someone who chose to give. Behind every life-saving procedure are researchers, physicians, engineers, caregivers, and supporters who refused to stop searching for better answers.

Because of them, families get more birthdays, more golf rounds, more walks through sunflower fields, and more Christmas mornings.

So instead of asking you to think about statistics, I challenge you to think about people, your people!

Reflect on your parents, your spouse, your children, your friends, and your coworkers. Think about the moments you’ve been given or the moments that were robbed.

My ask is that you pray, reflect, learn, and, if you’re able, give.

This is my story. What’s yours? Let's create more Happy Endings...together!

Scott