Photo courtesy of Cheryl Shepherd

Ryan Linkous, a heart disease survivor, participates in last year's New River Valley Heart Walk. This year's walk takes place today at Bisset Park in Radford.

| Mary Hardbarger

mary.hardbarger@roanoke.com, 381-1679

RADFORD -- While most children grow up battling bullies and the common cold, Ryan Linkous battled heart disease -- and he won.

Today, the feisty 12-year-old and hundreds of other survivors and advocates will celebrate victories and remember loved ones lost in the New River Valley Heart Walk at Bisset Park.

Sponsored by the American Heart Association, the heart walk is an effort to raise funds and save lives from America's No. 1 and No. 3 killers -- heart disease and stroke.

The event has been taking place for 18 years, and Ryan and his mother, Cheryl Shepherd, will be participating for the seventh time.

Ryan was born in 1997, and although the first few weeks of his life were what Shepherd recalled as relatively normal, she soon found out something was terribly wrong.

At 6 weeks, Ryan was losing 6 to 10 ounces of weight a week and when admitted into the hospital, Shepherd said, he looked grayish blue.

After several tests, doctors discovered more than 20 holes in his heart and just one heart valve.

"I was devastated," Shepherd said. "I ran out of the room screaming and crying. ... I literally fell to the floor."

Shepherd was told to go home and start planning her son's funeral, but after sitting by his side for sometimes days at a time, she said she didn't give up hope.

"I just sat there and prayed," she said. "I prayed that if he's not going to have a good life, then to take him."

Within 24 hours, Ryan began his battle. His temperature dropped back to normal, and his breathing grew stronger.

At just 10 weeks old, he would have his first of six open-heart surgeries at Duke University.

On Saturday, Ryan celebrated his birthday, and despite the pacemaker in his heart and doubts that he would ever walk or run, he's living life much as any boy his age would.

"I run a small day care out of my home and take care of several 1- to 13-year-old kids," Shepherd said. "Ryan outruns them all."

Shepherd said she began supporting the American Heart Association and the heart walk while in a state of helplessness during the first years of her son's life. She wanted to find a way she could empathize with and help others who were experiencing the same or similar struggles.

"I do this so people will realize that heart disease doesn't just affect older people," she said. "I didn't realize myself, until I had Ryan, that it can affect young kids as well."

Elizabeth Vail, the Roanoke area director of the heart association, said that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of infants from birth defects. One in 100 children is born with a heart condition each year.

To raise awareness of heart disease, the AHA holds fundraisers throughout the year, including the heart walk.

According to Vail, the New River event started with about 100 participants, but this year it has grown to more than 500. Typically, the event brings in $25,000 to $30,000. The majority of the money raised goes toward research.

Recently, a grant was awarded by the heart association to Virginia Tech and the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine to help fund research on heart disease in local communities.

"It's great for people to see the money that they helped raise go back into their own community," Vail said.

Shepherd is the team captain this year for "Ryan's Team," which has already raised more than $800.

"So far, so good," Shepherd said.

She said she hopes the walk will raise awareness as well as the spirits of everyone who plans to attend and fight for the cause.