Klara Litman, who is almost 2 years old, with her mother Kaylee who will be speaking Thursday at the 2025 Mid-Ohio Valley Heart Walk being held at City Park. Registration is 5 p.m. with the walk expected to start around 5:30 p.m. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG — People will be getting out and walking Thursday at City Park to promote heart health as part of the 2025 Mid-Ohio Valley Heart Walk.

Registration will be 5 p.m. at the bandshell with the walk slated to begin around 5:30 p.m. People can register at the park or pre-register at the American Heart Association’s website at www.heart.org/midohiovalleywalk.

“The Heart Walk has been present in the community for many years,” said Dr. David Gnegy of the WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center and Parkersburg Cardiology Associates who is serving as the 2025 Walk Chairman. “It is to bring awareness to heart health and the need to raise money for research for heart health and education.”

West Virginia is one of the states most adversely affected by heart disease with one of the highest death rates nationwide, highest rates of obesity and one of the highest smoking rates among its population, Gnegy said.

“This is all bringing awareness to the need to be healthier,” he said, adding people need to be checked for heart disease.

Kaylee Litman with her daughter, Klara, who has had multiple surgeries related to her heart after she was born. Klara was discharged from WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital on Sept. 27, 2024 after being there for 72 days. (Photo Provided)

“People need to get out and start moving,” Gnegy added. “There is nothing better for heart disease than motion with something as simple as walking.”

The walk can be for heart patients, heart attack survivors, heart failure patients and families affected by heart disease who walk to support a family member going through this now or in honor of someone who has passed away. Teams have also been formed to raise money for research and education the American Heart Association is involved in.

“I think it is a great thing the American Heart Association does to bring awareness and to raise money for education and research,” Gnegy said.

The tobacco industry spends $9.1 million in West Virginia to market tobacco products, compared to a small amount to prevention efforts, according to information provided by the AHA.

Around 21% of adults in the state are current smokers, compared to the national rate of 14%; 7.7% of adults in West Virginia use smokeless tobacco products (chewing tobacco, snuff, or snus), which is second highest in the nation; and 9.3% off adults currently use electronic vapor products (such as e-cigarettes, vapes/vape pens, etc.), compared to the national rate of 7.7%, according the AHA.

West Virginia had the second-highest rate of tobacco-associated cancers in the U.S. at 223.1 cancers per 100,000 people with the resident maternal smoking rate of 153.4 per 1,000 live births, they added.

Heart disease is the number-one cause of death in West Virginia. The state ranks fifth overall in the county for heart disease death nationwide, officials said.

Gnegy decided to chair this year’s walk as a way to help educate the public on the need of heart healthy living.

“People need to pay attention to risk factor modification and taking care of themselves,” he said. “When you are in a community and see things happen to people that could have been prevented if they had the education 20 years ago about watching their blood pressure, moving around, quitting smoking and more.

“You want to get out there and do what you can do to help people to prevent heart disease later in life.”

The event will also be highlighting survivor Klara Litman, who is almost 2 years old, with her mother Kaylee who will be speaking. Klara has had multiple heart surgeries with the earliest being when she was six days old. She had a hole in her heart (ASD) and doctors determined her aortic arch was too narrow and needed extra support to keep it widened before surgery. During this surgery, the surgeon widened her arch and closed the ASD. After the surgery was completed, Klara’s chest remained open and she had a breathing tube, chest tubes and an EEG. She also had two small seizures post-surgery which were contained by seizure medication.

Klara had the breathing tube removed and eventually was put on high flow oxygen. She had trouble breathing and it was found that her valves were severely leaking which was causing poor blood flow which in turn had an effect on her breathing. She had to have the breathing tube put back in and have an additional surgery. She had to have special dietary needs met in order to gain weight. Klara was discharged from WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital on Sept. 27, 2024, after being there for 72 days.

During the walk, people can walk as much as they want.

“There is no cost for the event. It is a free event,” said Amanda Sosebee, Development Director with the American Heart Association West Virginia. “It is a family-friendly event.”

There will be activities for families and kids, including face painting, a pup parade and more.

Sosebee said pets are welcome and people are encouraged to bring their dogs to walk around the park.

“It is expected to be a nice evening so that is expected to bring people out,” said Kevin Pauley, American Heart Association Marketing Communications Director for West Virginia & Blue Ridge, Virginia. “We see good attendance when we have nice weather.”

One lap around the park is around one mile.

“People are encouraged to walk as many laps as they would like to walk,” Sosebee said. “It is a non-competitive walk.

“It is whatever they feel like they can do. We are just encouraging people to get out and walk.”