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Community Corner

AHA kicks off OC Heart Run with four-time Super Bowl champ Jesse Sapolu

Four-time Super Bowl champion Jesse Sapolu and his wife Lisa hosted a breakfast reception for dozens of local industry leaders July 9 to kick off the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Orange County Heart Run & Walk scheduled for Sept. 7 at the Laguna Niguel Regional Park. The Sapolus are co-chairing the inaugural event, a timed 10K and 5K run and walk, which aims to raise $200,000 for the AHA’s mission of building healthier lives, free of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases.

The reception held at the Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo included an intimate NFL Insiders Panel discussion moderated by Sapolu and featuring fellow NFL greats Roy Foster of the San Francisco 49ers and Doug Smith and Vince Ferragamo of the Los Angeles Rams. They answered questions about their experience on the field during their heyday playing with and against other football legends, shared their perspective on the current state of player health and safety and talked about the life lessons they learned from the field.

During the event Sapolu shared his little-known story as a heart disease survivor. He contracted rheumatic fever when he was four years old, leaving a tear in his heart valve and causing his heart to enlarge and grow weaker. Sapolu played for 15 years with the San Francisco 49ers with his heart condition. Sapolu, who has undergone two heart valve replacement surgeries, credited the AHA’s research efforts for saving his life. The American Heart Association funded research that led to the development of the artificial heart valve in the 1960s.

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“We all know a relative, a loved one, a friend, a family member that has become a victim of cardiovascular disease” said Sapolu.  “Today we have an opportunity to make an impact in Orange County and I want to challenge each of you to form a team with your company.”

Stroke survivor Jim Bastian of Schulman, Bastian & Hodges also spoke at the event and invited fellow executives to join the countywide executive challenge to support and raise money for the OC Heart Run & Walk.

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“My focus is to try and enlist the support and the help of executives and business leaders primarily in the South Orange County area” said Bastian. “My hope is that my experience and the experiences of others can lead to further research. I feel blessed to be standing here today to be able to talk and I am hoping that we can all get together and support this great cause”.

For more information about the 2014 Orange County Heart Run & Walk or to form a fundraising team, visit www.ocheartrun.org or contact Katie Randall at (949) 885-1519 or ocheartrun@heart.org

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