PEMBROKE — Julie Zaha didn’t think much of her excessive tiredness and shoulder pain.
After the open heart surgery nurse complained of struggling to breathe, fellow nurses at Southeastern Regional Medical Center insisted she go to a catheterization lab.
“I had a 100 percent blockage in my right coronary artery. I didn’t have the chest pain. Women have different symptoms than men,” she said, looking at her Southeastern team. “These people saved my life.”
The Eastover resident had already had problems with high blood pressure, but she passed an EKG and stress test prior to her diagnosis, which came two years ago. A stent was inserted into her artery and she said that she didn’t even realize how bad she had been feeling. Since then, she has been an advocate for cardiovascular awareness.
Zaha donned a red survivor cape at the first Robeson County Heart Walk on Saturday. The walk brought more than 300 people to The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where they got their blood pumping to raise money and awareness for cardiovascular disease.
Kelly Millington, the American Heart Association’s vice president of development for eastern North Carolina, said that participants brought $1,860 to the walk. With the addition of that money, the Robeson County Heart Walk had exceeded its $20,000 fundraising goal by nearly $5,000 by Saturday afternoon. Millington said that a final tally of the money would be completed on Monday.
“It far exceeded my expectations,” said Virgil Oxendine, co-chair of the Heart Walk committee. “I really feel that, with this inaugural walk, folks will be encouraged to continue the conversation about being healthy and help continue to make this an annual event.”
Oxendine decided to get involved after hearing his friends’ and colleagues’ experiences and remembering his father Herman’s struggle with the disease, which he survived after a quadruple bypass.
Heart disease has been the No. 1 killer in the United States for more than 90 years and, in Robeson County, takes the lives of 226 of every 100,000 people every year. Robeson falls in the top 10 for the counties with the most heart disease-related deaths in North Carolina, according to the Society of Public Health Education.
Oxendine wasn’t the only one at the Heart Walk who was walking in honor of a loved one.
Timeha Batchelor, a senior nursing major at UNCP, said that she cried for two hours on the way to see her father after he had a stroke. Batchelor said he survived the stroke and has gotten better, but she continues to worry about the community’s health.
“There is a lot of diabetes in the community that can lead to coronary artery disease,” Batchelor said.
Sandra Locklear, of St. Pauls, was there with her family to walk in honor of her mother and father who both died of the disease when she was in her 20s. She said that the disease runs in her family, and she and her brother plan to make the Robeson County Heart Walk a tradition to remember and honor her parents.
Participants were invited to take a stroll on the Hawk Walk walking trail at UNCP and could choose between a one- or two-mile route. When the walkers returned, they were greeted with dancing, a cool down session and free Subway sandwiches.
Donations are still being accepted on the Robeson County Heart Walk website. To donate, search Robeson County Heart Walk, and for information on heart disease, visit heart.org.
