Oct 5, 2006 3 min read

Born with a heart condition, 12-year-old Cory Cavinee underwent surgery a year ago February. Now a survivor of aortic stenosis, which narrows the aortic valve, making it hard for the heart to pump blood to the body, Cavinee has joined the American Heart Association in the fight against heart disease and stroke. “Thanks to research partially funded by the American Heart Association, the Ross Procedure became available to replace my aortic valve,” Cavinee said.

During this surgery, Cavinee’s aortic valve was removed and replaced by his pulmonary valve. Then, his pulmonary valve was replaced with a preserved donor pulmonary valve.

“With this procedure, my valve will grow with me and eliminates the need for taking blood thinners,” he said.

Today, Cavinee is a very active young man involved in many sports. He has also accepted the honor of being the spokesperson for the American Heart Association’s 2006 Fayette County Heart Walk, which will take place on Saturday at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.

This is the second year Cavinee and his family are participating in this national event that raises funds for medical research and community education programs in the fight against the nation’s top one and three killers – heart disease and stroke.

“Last year, after explaining the Heart Walk and showing the Web site to Cory he asked, ‘Shouldn’t we do that because they helped me?'” said Cindy Stirling, corporate events director of the Fayette American Heart Association.

By the end of last year’s walk, Cavinee’s friends and family team had raised $6,600.

“We only had two teams that exceeded that amount and they were the two largest employers in the county,” Stirling said.

“The Cavinees came to our kick-off this year and indicated how research and new procedures had helped their family. Cory announced that this year he would like to raise $10,000 at the Heart Walk, and we have no doubt that he will reach his goal,” Stirling said.

As he tries to reach his fund-raising goal, Cavinee will receive help from his parents, Scott and Diane, and his three brothers, Alex, 14, Andrew, 10, and Daniel, 8. The family members are all very instrumental in helping to raise money for Cavinee’s team. His team for this year’s Heart Walk is “Walkin’ with Cory.”

American Heart Association-funded research has yielded many important discoveries such as CPR, life extending drugs, pacemakers, bypass surgery, the heart-lung machine and surgical techniques to repair heart defects

“In addition to raising funds, the Heart Walk focuses attention on the importance of regular physical exercise as part of a heart -healthy lifestyle,” Stirling said. “It is a great way for people to get outdoors, exercise and have fun with co-workers, friends and family while supporting a good cause.”

Registration and sponsorship information is available by calling Cindy Stirling, at the American Heart Association, Fayette County office, at 724-437-2798 or visiting the Web site at www.americanheart.org

.