My dad had a stroke. That's not something you forget.

It's why the American Heart Association has stayed close to my heart for years — not as an abstract cause, but as the organization researching the conditions that changed my family's life. When I coach Team WakeMed Physician Practices for the Triangle Heart Walk, I'm not just organizing a team event. I'm putting my 21+ years of bringing people together to work for something that matters to me personally.

Heart disease and stroke are still the leading causes of death in America. But research works — survival rates keep improving because people fund the science behind them. Every dollar raised through this walk goes toward that research: better treatments, faster interventions, more people who get to keep their dads.

I can't hit my goal alone, and I'm not asking you to run a marathon — just to help me cross a finish line that matters. Any amount helps.

Donate today, and let's walk toward fewer families going through what mine did.