Survivor urges public to join Middlesex-Union County Heart Walk on Sunday

I am a Middlesex County resident — I am a survivor. As the survivor of a heart attack at age 51, I urge you to join a movement — the American Heart Association Middlesex-Union County Heart Walk on Sept. 19. I’m serving as red cap survivor ambassador of Middlesex-Union County Heart Walk, and I’ll be joining thousands of survivors of stroke, heart surgery, heart attack and cardiac arrest throughout New Jersey this fall as we walk in the 13th annual American Heart Association Heart Walk.

Our movement is to continue to make progress in the fight against New Jersey’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers — heart disease and stroke. Our movement is also to raise awareness that cardiovascular disease in the No. 1 health threat facing American women today. Nearly 500,000 women die each year from cardiovascular diseases — more female lives than from the next seven causes of death combined, including all cancers.

If you are a woman or there is a woman in your life you care about, I urge you to learn more about the American Heart Association Go Red for Women campaign. As the mother of two children, I encourage mother-daughter teams and women from all walks of life to join us at the Middlesex-Union County Heart Walk Sept. 19.

Every one of us in Middlesex County benefits from the work, services, programs and funded research of the American Heart Association and its stroke division, the American Stroke Association.

There are free brochures, materials, speakers, conferences, science journals for physicians and healthcare professionals, workshops, toll-free numbers, support groups, Web sites, CPR training, guidelines on diet/nutrition, cholesterol, hypertension, cardiovascular care, and much more. And, over the years, American Heart Association-funded research has helped bring us such advances as microsurgery, heart-valve replacement, coronary bypass surgery, the pacemaker, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and drug treatments for high blood pressure and congestive heart failure, to name a few.

Support the theme of 2004 Middlesex-Union County Heart Walk, Step Out, Save Lives! — Exercise Your Heart!, by exercising regularly and walking in Heart Walk. Physical activity brings health benefits to the heart, lungs and circulation. Be sure to include exercise as part of your regular daily routine. Join me and join our movement and more than 3,000 walkers at Middlesex-Union County Heart Walk at Middlesex County College.

For more information or to register, call your local office of the American Heart Association at (732) 821-2610.

Jane Kaplan

North Brunswick

red cap survivor ambassador

American Heart Association 2004 Middlesex-Union County Heart Walk