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Stroke And Heart Attack Survivors, Families March In Pittsburgh Heart Walk

NORTH PARK (KDKA) -- The rain slipped out of town just in time this morning for the greater Pittsburgh Heart Walk in North Park.

In this crowd of hearty souls, some coming in Halloween costumes, you will find a lot of very personal reasons for being here.

"Five bypasses [in] 2019 and stent six weeks ago," survivor Theresa DeShantz said. "I'm feeling really good. Still in cardiac rehab but doing good."

Red capes, red and white caps were symbols of the heart and stroke survivors.

"I'm a heart attack survivor twice," said Debbie Lewis of Crescent Township. "And it is thanks to my excellent doctors and nurses who have cared for me at Presley and then at Passavant that I am able to do this walk today.

"Evie--right after she was born, we had to go to Children's Hospital because she had a heart issue they couldn't figure out," said Jeff Burke, Evie's dad. "And she had to have open heart surgery when she was six days old. And she can run marathons now everything's fine. She just had a checkup two weeks ago, and she's doing great so we couldn't be happier."

The walk wasn't long, and no times recorded but that's not what this was about.

This was about remembering, and a lot of celebrating life in those who walked today.

The heart walk not only honors survivors but also raised money today for research advocacy, CPR training and promoting better health.

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