The annual Two Feet & A Heartbeat walk is back this weekend to raise money and awareness for childhood-onset heart disease (CoHD).
Australian charity HeartKids, which organises the event, encouraged people of all ages to walk 4km in honour of the four children lost each week to the disease or 8km for the eight babies born each day in Australia with a heart condition.
The Geelong event takes place at 10.30am on Sunday 26 October along Elephant Walk in Torquay.
Angie Johnstone and Daniel Stewart, with their four children Brooklyn, Mason, Ava and Maliah, will be Heart Angel Family representative for the Geelong walk in memory of their son Xavier, who died from CoHD earlier this year at just under three months of age.
Ms Johnstone said the support from HeartKids, both during Xavier’s time in hospital and after his passing, has been “a massive help”.
“Daniel was off work because we were basically living at the hospital every day, I wasn’t working, and we were travelling back and forth to keep the kids in some sort of a routine with school,” she said.
“HeartKids were very helpful with things like fuel or food vouchers, which was really good at a time when we needed help.
“At Christmas time HeartKids also organised a Santa to come up to the ward so we were able to get family Santa photos with Xavier. That was quite amazing and lovely.”
Visit heartkids.org.au to donate or sponsor a walker, or register to walk on the day.
