Team Victoria Raises Awareness for Heart Disease and Stroke

At the event, many gather to take a stance against heart disease to save lives.

One family has been participating in the Heart Run and Walk for almost two decades. They call themselves "Team Victoria," for 17-year-old Victoria Swider who was born with a heart condition.

Victoria's parents started a team in her honor when she was just nine months old.

Today, they've raised almost over half a million dollars in the last seventeen years they've been involved with the American Heart Association.

"Everyone knows someone who has been impacted by heart disease or stroke. There's probably no one you wouldn't ask that knows someone. It feels good to go out and do something to help the cause. Whether it's raising money for research or just educating people on the warning signs of heart disease and stroke," says Theresa Swider, Victoria's mother.

Victoria's mother first suggested a friends and family category when they first got involved.

Last year, out of the 9,000 participants that came out, 3,200 hundred of them were teams in the friends and family category.