Music For Heart Foundation schedules Heart Walk

SUCCESS- Music For Heart Foundation president Brenda Small, right, visits with Jocelyn Hidalgo in El Salvador 10 months after the child underwent heart surgey for a congenital heart disorder. A benefit "Heart Walk" to raise funds to help save the lives of children with congenital heart disorders is scheduled on Sun., Feb. 24, announced Brenda Small, president of the Music For Heart Foundation and co-founder of Delaney Kate Heart Fund.

The first annual Heart Walk will kick off the group's bigger goal of raising funds at their annual Music for Heart Gala at The Canyon in Agoura Hills, slated on Sun., May 4, 2008.

Small, and her husband, Craig, launched the foundation and heart fund when their daughter, Delaney, was diagnosed with a congenital heart disorder as an infant. The Agoura Hills couple was so grateful that their child's life was spared that they decided to help sick children in economically disadvantaged countries obtain proper medical treatment and necessary surgeries to live with congenital heart disease.

The fund contributes money for children who need heart operations in impoverished countries where such complex heart disorders often equate to a death sentence. The fund also helps pay for medical training of doctors in their homeland, so the future medical needs of children with congenital heart disorders can be performed by doctors on their own turf.

Small said she just returned from a trip to El Salvador where a medical team performed heart surgery on six children who might otherwise have died.

"This trip was truly an inspiration and motivation which solidified our mission to save the lives of underprivileged children who suffer from congenital heart disease," Small said. "While in Central America, I also had the opportunity to visit with a little girl who we brought to the U.S.A. last spring for corrective heart surgery. When she arrived last spring, she was not able to walk and was gasping for each breath she took."

The surgery proved to be miraculous for the child, Small said. "When I arrived at her home outside San Salvador, she ran up to me unaided to give me a big hug."

The girl will need additional surgeries to help her live a normal life. Small said she will return to the United States within six to 12 months for her next surgery.

Small said the foundation has chosen to sponsor another Central American child who needs multiple surgeries. "She will receive the gift of life on March 13th, 2008," Small said.

Two more medical missions to El Salvador are scheduled in 2008. "During the May trip, the medical team plans to save the lives of 50 children," she said.

The Music for Heart Walk is being sponsored by the Rotary Club of Agoura Hills and Oak Park.

For further information on the heart walk or the upcoming gala, visit www.musicforheart.org, or call Small at (818) 625-7402.

In a Nutshell

The Rotary Club of Agoura Hills/Oak Park is sponsoring the first annual Music for Heart Walk. The walk to fight congenital heart disease starts and ends at Berniece Bennett Park, 31800 Village Center Road in Westlake Village. Registration and walk begin at 9 a.m. Registration fee is $25 for adults and $15 for children. The walk will take place rain or shine.