Dear Friends,

Please join us for a walk in honor of Baby Joey, a sweet soul that has captured so many hearts. If you are not familiar with his story, you can read more here and here. Despite the significant progress Joey has made to remain here on earth, in the loving care of his parents, he has many miles to go to reach full heart function in order to really thrive.

You see Joey has a “…unique heart. He has an Unbalance Complete AVSD +- a hole between his atriums, a hole between his ventricles, and a nubbin of a right ventricle. The “+” holds all of the extras, like a tiny tricuspid…” and he has Down syndrome. Many babies born with Down Syndrome have heart issues, but Joey’s heart has so many that doctors did not think he would survive outside the womb.

Well, Joey survived, and he’s still here, but he needs our help. Also, his wonderful parents need our help. Joey will undergo many more procedures to repair his heart, see many specialists here and in Boston, all of which will place a toll on the financial resources of his family. These are all necessary steps for Joey, as the surgeries will allow him to not only survive, but THRIVE! They will allow him to grow, to learn, and to continue to teach us all what it means to have heart!

This walk is a fundraiser to help off-set the costs of medical care, treatment, travel, and medication needed to help Joey. ALL proceeds will go to the Joseph Jude Heart Fund. We have set a fundraising goal of $1500 for this event! Please help us reach (and exceed) this goal.

Here are the details:

Sunday, October 27, 2013 (rain or shine)

The Crossings Park
580 Albany Shaker Road
Colonies, NY

1:30 pm Check-in and Registration

2:00 pm -Walk Begins

Day of event walk-ins are welcome! RSVPs appreciated but not needed
Registration Fee: $15 per family/group, $7 per individual

We hope that you will reach out to your own family, religious communities, colleagues, and friends to gather donations for this walk. Can’t walk with us but want to help Joey and his family? Visit this site to make a direct donation.

Please, join us in helping an awesome baby and a miraculous family! Come and walk with us. Let’s show Joey we’ve got heart too!

Sincerely,

Big Hearted Event Coordinators

Chrissy Hotaling (Chrissy.Hotaling@gmail.com)

Erica Svatek (EricaSvatek@yahoo.com)