Jogging for Jax was created in honor of our heart warrior, Jax, who was born with a congenital heart defect (CHD), ALCAPA. His defect was repaired with open heart surgery when he was just 4 months old. Check out his full story below!

Fundraising is important to our team because we want to help encourage education around heart health and healthy lifestyle choices, as well as encourage continued research so that babies, like Jax, continue to have a fighting chance in the world!

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Jax's story began on January 11th, 2018 when he was 4 months old. I had taken him to the pediatrician's office where he was diagnosed with a respiratory virus, RSV. Throughout the day his breathing got worse and he wasn't eating well. That evening we ended up at Cincinnati Children's ER. Jax was admitted and had several different tests ran. On January 12th we got the devastating news that Jax was born with a rare congenital heart defect known as ALCAPA. This condition affects 1 in 300,000 kids and has a 90% mortality rate by the child's first birthday. This diagnosis required Jax to have open heart surgery to correct his heart defect. We ended up with an exhausting and life changing 2 week stay at Children's hospital.

Fast forward eight years later and Jax has recovered from his surgery and is expected to have zero limitations as he grows up. He is an active, baseball-loving kid! We are forever thankful for the staff at Children's hospital and the friends and family that supported and prayed for us throughout this journey. We want to use this annual heart walk to bring about awareness, raise money for the American Heart Association, & celebrate Jax's life.