| A message from Darby
... Hi! My name is Darby and I am thirteen years old. I was born with a congenital heart defect. When I was a baby, they had to operate on my heart and fix it. The doctor said that sometime when I get older, I would have to have another surgery. This makes me scared, but if we help raise money for the American Heart Association, maybe they will find new ways to fix hearts. I have my own team called “Team Darby” for the American Heart Association Heart Walk. I am getting all my friends, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and neighbors to walk. I want to have the biggest team and try to raise lots of money. Come walk with me! Together we can raise money for other kids like me and other people with heart disease. Will you walk for heart disease this year? Hope to see you at the walk! - Darby Andre |
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About Darby |
 Read about Darby's
congenital heart defect, her surgery, and what she's up to today. |
| Support Team Darby |
| Help Darby support the American Heart Association
in the 2009 Heart Walk ...
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| Team Darby News |
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June 9, 2009 Team Darby is now on FaceBook Join the Team Darby group on Facebook to network with other members of Team Darby.
January 31, 2009 Heart Ball Tonight Darby will be speaking at the American Heart Association's annual Heart Ball. October 5, 2008 2008 Heart Walk Today the 2008 Berks County Heart Walk was held at First Energy Stadium - where the Reading Phillies play!
May 31, 2007 Pictures From the 2006 Heart Walk OK, so in the "better late than never" category, we've finally gotten the pictures from last year's heart walk online for everyone to see.
July 1, 2006 Introducing ... Darby's View Darby has begun writing about her experience and why she participates in the heart walk to support the American heart Association. Read more in the new "Darby's View" column. April 14, 2006 Mark Your Calendar The 2006 Heart Walk will be held Sunday, October 1, 2006. Save the date and come walk with Team Darby! October 1, 2005 We Met Our Goal! Congratulations to all the members of Team Darby for meeting our 2005 goal of $10,000! For the 2005 Heart Walk, Team Darby raised $10,123 to support the American Heart Association. September 10, 2005 2005 Berks County Heart Walk
Friends, family, and neighbors walked the three mile trail between Arrow International and Gring's Mill. August 6, 2005 2005 Heart Fest The first Team Darby Heart Fest took place on August 6, 2005 at Max Crema's espresso and coffee bar. A fun day was had by all as they enjoyed live music courtesy of the Acoustic Roadshow and found fun ways to sponsor Team Darby in the upcoming Berks County Heart Walk. July 27, 2005 Team Darby's Heart Fest The Heart Fest will be a day of free live music, fine coffee and cool smoothies, a fundraising raffle for excellent prizes, and many other fun activities. Max Crema's will be donating a portion of their proceeds for the day to Team Darby. Don't miss it! Team Darby in 2004 A Look Back at the
Look back at Team Darby in 2004:
September 18, 2004 The Heart of a Coffee Shop
September 13, 2004 Darby On the Air
During the show, Jo asked Darby her secret to getting people to support the American Heart Association with their donations. "I just ask them!" was Darby's answer.
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| Darby's View |
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Thoughts and observations by Darby Andre ... February 15, 2007 School Some people at school when they found out that I open heart surgery thought I was weird. I was mad when I told everyone at school for an "all about me" poster that I had open heart surgery and all they had to say was silence. It made me feel stupid when nobody said anything. A lot of people came up to me and said are you contagious. I felt like I shouldn't have told everyone. Over the years of elementary school I learned to not tell anyone. One year my gym teacher told every-one about my heart because we were doing Jump Rope for Heart. She did not even ask me if she was allowed to tell the whole school. Now that I am in my first year of middle school I have learned to accept the way God made me. August 21, 2006 Amusement Park Rides When I heard all about the people dying on all of the rides at the amusement parks I got really scared. Now I feel like I can’t go to amusement parks now. We talked to the cardiologist about it and he said he can’t just tell what rides are safe and what rides aren’t. He said it was up to me and my family to decide what rides I can go on and the ones I can’t. I am really scared that one choice my family makes might cost me my life. My doctor said to my parent when I was pretty little that I would not have many restrictions except not playing football or wrestling and not drinking caffeine or alcohol even when I am 21. The doctor said everyone is prone to dying on amusement park rides but me and all the people who had heart disease are more prone to amusement park rides than anybody else. I heard on the news that a little boy didn’t even know he had a heart problem and died so I guess anybody can die from amusement park rides. This is what makes it so scary. So please be careful on Amusement Park Rides. July 1, 2006 Why I do the Heart Walk When I was the Honorary Red Cap Chair kid I was interviewed and everyone asked me why I did the Heart Walk. I would always say because when I was six months old I had a congenital heart defect. But that was not the whole answer. I do the Heart Walk because there are lots of children out in the world who can’t have the medical attention that I did. It makes me so sad that I could survive my surgery but a lot of children in the world die from heart disease and stroke. If we all raise a lot of money we can prevent all those children from dying. So please help all the children who need a surgery like I did and raise money for the American Heart Association. July 1, 2006 To all the parents and kids who are going through or have been through open heart surgery I don’t really remember my surgery because I was six months old. I guess that is good so I don’t have to remember one of the most painful moments of my life. The only reason that I know a lot about everything that happened is because my parents wrote in journals about what happened pretty much every single day. Everyone says god gives you one gift. Usually everyone figures what their gift is when they live life for a long time. But I figured mine out when I was nine and I was reading some of my parent’s journals. A couple days after my surgery a little boy about as old as I was had the same exact surgery and was not doing very well. Then he passed away and everyone was terribly worried about me. I was not doing very well after he died, but everyone who knew me made it through and I grew up to be a healthy child. I figured out that day when I read that story. My gift was living and having a wonderful family and especially a very caring sister. July 1, 2006 Josh When I had my surgery I had a roommate named Josh. He made my parents whole experience seem better and he made everyone laugh. He was in the hospital because he needed a heart transplant. He had to wait a long time to get his new heart. When the nurses would come in and tell him they did not find a heart for him yet he would always say that he wanted a baboon heart. One night he was watching TV and a cheerios commercial came on. It said it makes hearts healthy. Josh said that he always ate cheerios for breakfast and he still needs a heart transplant. When I read that I started to cry because it touched me in a way nothing has before. When you think of it a lot it is really sad that he said that. Josh eventually got his heart transplant and he is healthy. I will never forget Josh. |
