Column

At gala, the hearts that give truly live

By ERNEST HOOPER, Times Columnist
Published August 15, 2007

Danny Hill's love affair with hockey started when he attended his first Lightning game as a 6-year-old.

But he never realized the sport would help him develop a passion for the Children's Heart Foundation.

Now 16, Danny has played for 10 consecutive years and skates for the Tampa Bay Titans out of Oldsmar's Tampa Bay Skating Academy. He puts his heart and soul into the game, but for a while his heart resisted.

Ever since he could remember, Danny's heart occasionally raced to abnormally high levels. Doctors couldn't determine the exact problem, but as he grew older, the problem grew more serious. If he didn't have surgery, Danny would have to stop playing hockey.

"I had an electrical problem, not a structural problem," explained Danny, who lives in Clearwater and attends Berkeley Prep. "I had to have the surgery because I would almost faint or pass out.

Ten or 15 years ago, doctors would have recommended open heart surgery for Danny to continue playing sports. His parents, Dennis and Jennifer Hill, likely would have opted to have their son quit the game to avoid surgery.

Advances, however, in the treatment of congenital heart defects have resulted in a new approach: catheter ablation.

Not only can Danny pronounced the term, he can spell it.

Doctors essentially inserted catheters into Danny's heart instead of opening up his chest to repair the electrical problem.

"I can do whatever I want with it," Danny said gleefully. "I have no limitations now."

He does, however, have an appreciation for the repair. So in between school and hockey and triathlons, Danny serves on the junior board for the Florida Chapter of the Children's Heart Foundation. The organization works to fund the kind of research that made Danny's catheter ablation a possibility.

On Aug. 25, Danny and the 19 other junior board members will be front and center at the foundation's annual gala at the Harborview Center in Clearwater. They will escort guests, work the silent auction and assist photographers.

"We're going to work their little fingers to the bone," chapter president Marlee Huggins said laughing.

The kids come from Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough, and while a few have heart problems like Danny, most are motivated by a desire to help and the fact someone they know has a heart condition.

Huggins couldn't be more pleased with the teens' efforts. Not only does their work help the organization, but it has the potential to help her own 5-year-old daughter Kalani, who has had one open-heart surgery and possibly will need another.

"She will actually be 6 on the 25th, so I get to spend her sixth birthday with the people who fixed her and the people trying to help her," Huggins said. "Now we keep celebrating birthdays and life goes on."

Life goes on for Kalani and Danny, and hopefully a lot of other kids whose ailing hearts haven't diminished their capacity to love life.

That's all I'm saying.

Fast Facts:

Children's Heart Foundation

"For Their Hearts" Benefit

When: Aug. 25, 6 p.m.

Where: Harborview Center, Clearwater

What: Dining, dancing, casino-style gambling

For more information: www.chfflorida.org or 727-422-0912

[Last modified August 15, 2007, 00:23:04]