Testimonials

Mary E Brown

I am going to update you again tomorrow, but right now, on our online donation site we have $6,055 and we have at least $200 in offline donations that have yet to be entered....probably close to $500 actually. So, I am going to say that, currently, we have approximately $6555 in donations...completely blowing away my cautious $500 estimate. haha

Honestly, our online donation page through our organization was a huge help. The fact that we're raising money to help children and families affected by Congenital Heart Defects really spoke to a lot of people. We used our best assets, our children and their stories, to pull in donations. We do this because of them. We touched a lot of people who donated from what they have, and that's saying a lot in today's economy. We are truly overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for our organization, our children and ourselves. We are also humbled by the number of people who are taking time out of their Sunday to run/walk with us.

Oh, and being an MSU alumna, I am excited about "Heart of a Spartan!" I hope to get IMH - Metro Detroit involved in that!

Mary E. Brown
President
It's My Heart
Metro Detroit Chapter

Scott Newport

Just wanted you to know that cardiologist Dr. Nancy Cutler is going to push my son in a baby jogger on Sunday in the 10k. This is a wonderful picture of what the race is all about. My 7yr old son Evan has a terminal heart disease and is not expected to live long. Even though Evan is very well known at Mott and gets most of his care at U of M, Dr. Cutler practices at Royal Oak Beaumont. She collaborates often with Mott cardiologist and graduated from U of M. One of the coolest things is she is doing this on her birthday, what a gift.

If you see us at the race it would be great to meet you. You can’t miss us; Evan will have lots of tubes coming from him and will have a sign above his head that reads, ‘My cardiologist’s heart is big enough for both of us.” Dr Cutler will have a note on her back that will read, “I won’t stop pushing till we find a cure.” I will be the 6’ 3" goofy guy with them.

Scott Newport

Vicki & Amanda George

I would like to share my 12 year old daughter's story. This year's race is special to my daughter (and her family) because she spent a short stay at the Mott Children's Hospital @ U of M last December 2008. This will be the 3rd year Amanda and I have run the 5k Big House race. She started running with me in September 2004. Unbeknownst to us at the time, Amanda was born with an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD - hole in the heart). Since 2004, she has run in 68 road races and placed in 48 of them (59 with the hole in her heart). It was during the August Junior Olympics in 2008 when we were informed of this defect.

Like most parents, many concerns crossed our minds - very scary ones and many guilty ones. She, of course, wanted to continue living her life as she'd always known; I wasn't sure if I was supposed to halt all these extra activities that were causing her heart to work harder and pump blood where it wasn't supposed to go. We opted to let her live her live to its fullest whatever age.

Luckily for Amanda, doctors were able to complete the procedure without the actual open heart surgery. She had a dime size hole in the "wall" separating the two top chambers, also causing her right bottom ventricle to be enlarged. The employees at the Mott Children's Hospital were AWESOME and we couldn't have asked for better care. For as busy as they were on the heart floor with all ages, we were treated like we were the only patients they had. Really.

She was happy to run this race in the past and think that a portion of her money was helping others. Now, after herself being one of those others, it's a little more personal this year.

She did not let this defect alter her goals. A slight setback, yes, but so far this year, she's run in 9 races and placed in 8 and is running cross country for school. As a parent, I will probably not stop asking her if she feels all right.

Thank you for supporting such great causes. It means so much to people.

Vicki & Amanda George, proud runners of the Big House Big Heart race

Cheryl Boss

I just wanted to let you know that I was indeed inspired TO run the race in honor of my father, who died very suddenly of a heart attack at the young age of 49 (I was 11 at the time). And then AT the award ceremony, I was SO inspired by the honoree (Unfortunately, I can not recall her name at this late hour), as she was a police officer in LA who got shot in the line of duty (then she shared how her physical fitness helped with her survival and recovery). She brought me to tears! My sister is a police officer in Indianapolis, so that really affected me, though thankfully, she has never been shot. It was also wonderful to run through the tunnel and onto the 50 yard line!

Diane Flucht

My son, Nathan Remmert, suffered a spinal cord injury on April 4, 2004. He has a C5-C6 injury and is quadriplegic. Nate was the athlete in our family -- our hockey player, lacrosse player, and runner. You name it. Nate moved to Carlsbad, California to attend Project Walk Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Center. It is an intensive exercise program with a goal of creating new nerve pathways & helping paralyzed people walk again. While not everyone walks, everyone gets stronger and healthier. This program is not covered by most insurances & the clients (not patients) at Project Walk do a lot of fundraising to help pay the $100/hr charge.

Now that Nate is getting stronger and healthier, he has started a new non-profit called "One Less Problem". His organization will create websites for people with spinal cord injuries. This will help them with their fundraising and also help them stay in touch with their friends and family.

When I read that The Big House Big Heart Run was being opened up to all charities, we signed up a team for Nate's charity. I haven't run a 5K in 25 years. It was a great motivator to train for the race to raise money for my son's charity. I finished in 33 minutes and 19 seconds! Nate flew home for the event. There were 13 of us and we raised $1,300. We all had fun & are planning to do it next year.

It is such a small world that the motivational speaker for the walk was a person with a spinal cord injury from California. The Extreme Home Makeover episode about her home modification also included clips from Project Walk.

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