Open Your Heart
By supporting Go Red, you inspire women to make healthy lifestyle changes, mobilize communities, and shape policies to save lives. When you attend a luncheon and get involved as a volunteer and supporter, you help to improve the health of women in your community. You make it possible for more women to receive the lifesaving information they need about their risk for heart disease and stroke and empower them to live stronger, healthier lives.
Thank you for opening your heart to support Go Red For Women.
Cor Vitae Society, Latin for the heart of life, is the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s (AHA/ASA) annual philanthropic giving society of like-minded individuals whose generosity is helping to change and save lives. These committed individuals help champion our mission of building healthier lives free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. It is our goal to provide an exceptional experience to recognize and engage such distinguished support.
2019 Go Red for Women Featured Survivor
Annalise Winn is a seventeen year old who was born with a severe Congenital Heart Defect called Atrioventricular Canal Defect. Essentially, she was born with two large holes between the upper and lower chambers of her heart causing her heart valves to form incorrectly. In the place of her mitral and tricuspid valves, she had one common valve. This complex defect caused oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to mix and put her into congestive heart failure when she was only six weeks old. She had her first open heart surgery at two and a half months old. Her second and third heart surgeries came three months apart and just before her third birthday. Her fourth open heart surgery happened when she was five years old. Through all this, she acquired a mechanical heart valve and has needed to take a blood thinner since she was three years old. She has been in the hospital repeated times for complications of taking a blood thinner and for Transient Ischemic Attacks. Annalise will always require regular follow-ups with her cardiologist for the rest of her life. She monitors her blood thinner levels at home with an INR testing meter. In the last few years, the biggest complications and struggles come from managing a life on blood thinners and being at high risk for blood clots from her mechanical heart valve. She will most likely require at least one more open heart surgery in her lifetime when her mechanical valve needs to be replaced. Annalise has never let her heart condition keep her from being active and having fun. She currently is a part of her high school cross country team and runs competitively. She runs up to 12 miles a week. She is also a member of the New Deal Volunteer Fire Department as a Junior Firefighter. She has received the honor of Junior Firefighter of the Year for three years in a row. As a Junior Firefighter, once she turns eighteen she hopes to study to become and EMT to earn money for college and experience in healthcare. As a result of all her time spent in the hospital, she hopes to go to college and become a registered nurse.
Cor Vitae Society
AS A COR VITAE SOCIETY MEMBER, YOU WILL EXPERIENCE:
• A deeper connection to the work of the AHA/ASA through exclusive insider communications
• Enhanced access to AHA/ASA leadership
• Opportunities to connect with other Cor Vitae Society members
• Recognition of your support
• Exclusive events that showcase the impact of your giving
The American Heart Association is pleased to recognize individuals who are members of the Cor Vitae Society for their annual private gifts and commitments of $5,000 or more. The Cor Vitae Society also recognizes individuals who have made lifetime gifts and commitments of $500,000 or more. The extraordinary generosity of our Cor Vitae Society members is propelling innovative research and new treatments that are helping to save countless lives.
