A walk worthwhile

Photo Credit: Russell Hill

Bailey Davenport dances with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Bear at the Lubbock Heart Walk on October 20 at The Spirit Ranch. The Lubbock Heart Walk was part of the American Diabetes Association Heart Walk orgainized to raise awareness and funds for diabetes research and treatment. Bailey and the “Blue Bear” danced for the crowd to “Brick House”.

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November 15, 2012 • Halie Unrien, Arts & Entertainment Editor  
Filed under Student Life, Top Stories

Walk to Stop Diabetes is the signature fundraising walk of the American Diabetes Association. In the past 20 years this fundraiser has raised more than $150,000,000 to fight Diabetes and educate the public on the dangers of the disease. More than 150,000 participants came together last year and raised close to $20 million dollars.

Red striders are a common sight at the diabetes walk. A Red Strider is someone living with type 1, type 2 or gestational diabetes. Most wear a Red Strider hat or are recognized in other ways. To some they are a reminder of why they walk.

Many people participate in raising money for the charitable cause, but participants who raise $1,000 or more become “Champions to Stop Diabetes.” Once a participant sets their fundraising goal at $1,000 or higher, they receive the full support of an ADA staff partner to help achieve their goals. Each Champion receives a medal at the ceremony leading up to the walk.

Although the fundraiser only comes annually, groups with the same colored shirts and bandanas typically don’t hold back in showing their pride for the Walk for Diabetes. There are many types of teams including corporations, families, clubs and even school groups that create teams to walk for those who have been living with the disease.

For more on the American Diabetes Association or the Lubbock Heart Walk, visit www.lubbockheartwalk.org or www.diabetes.org

One team that touched hearts around Lubbock was a group walking in honor of a lost angel Andrew Villarreal. The life of this young boy touched more hearts then many people found possible. Andrew, like Bailey, was born with hypo plastic left heart. Jolenn Frankfather, the mother of two children with heart defects, met Sasha, Andrew’s mother, while both of their children were in the hospital receiving a pacemaker. They then became a part of an organization called Mended Little Hearts.

Mended Little Hearts is a support group that puts together care bags for families that have children or family in the hospital, by congenital heart defects.  Five-year-old Jordan, Jolenn’s oldest daughter, has Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), or a hole in her heart. Jolenn’s youngest daughter, who is three, has a rare heart defect known as ALCAPA, or anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery. This is a heart defect in which the left

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