It started with a broken toe.

In mid-December, I slipped on my garage floor and broke my big toe. It was painful and frustrating, but I didn’t think it was anything serious.

A short time later, I flew to Florida to visit family. While we were there enjoying time together—even riding roller coasters at Universal Studios—I noticed something wasn’t right. The pain began to move… from my toe to my foot, then my ankle, and eventually up into my calf. My leg became swollen, red, and increasingly uncomfortable.

One day, my wife mentioned it to a friend of hers—a cardiovascular interventionalist. After seeing a photo of my leg, he said something I’ll never forget: “Get to the ER now.”

I thought he was overreacting. Thankfully, he wasn’t.

At the ER, we learned I had developed blood clots in my leg—Deep Vein Thrombosis—and one of those clots had already traveled to my heart and lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism. I was dangerously close to cardiac arrest.

Because it was caught in time, I’m still here today.

After multiple procedures, the placement of a stent, and now a lifetime of blood thinners, I’ve been given something that could have been taken away from me—the chance to watch my daughter grow up.

I am incredibly grateful for the training and education the American Heart Association provides to medical professionals. That knowledge is what helped save my life.

That’s why I’m walking.

Please consider supporting my Heart Walk page with a donation. Your support helps fund lifesaving research, education, and training—so that more families get the same second chance that mine did.

Because next time, it could be someone you love.