I was born with a condition called mitral valve prolapse, which meant that the valves in my heart could not properly connect to pump my blood efficiently. This made my heart work extra hard to circulate my blood, which led to my heart being larger than normal, and caused me to be worn out more quickly when exercising. It also meant no sports for me, due to the risk of my heart tearing if there was an impact to my chest.
So began the story of Jason's Wonky Heart. I was never big into sports, so missing out on those wasn't a huge deal to me. However, the conversation about my heart condition came up quite often with friends and family since any time I'd run around as a kid, my heart actually made an audible "whooping" sound that could be heard by others around me. It was a fun little quirk, but something I knew would likely need to be fixed one day.
Fast forward to September of 2022 - the time was finally right for me to undergo surgery to fix my heart in hopes that it would help me stay healthy in the longrun. Thanks to the amazing staff, doctors and surgeons and Akron Children's Hospital and the Cleveland Clinic, the surgery was a great success and I'm now recovering well and feeling better than ever.
I'm so excited to create my first team for the Akron Heart Walk, and hope you'll join me in celebrating the success stories and encouraging those learning how to manage their own Wonky Hearts. Donations go a long way towards supporting and educating those in our community about heart health. Hope to walk with you on 6/15 at Canal Park!