A national charity walk honouring young lives lost and those still fighting congenital heart disease will be held in Bunbury on September 9 from 9am.
HeartKids Two Feet and a Heartbeat Charity Walk will cover 4km at Wyallup Rocky Point and participants will be given funky socks to wear and a flag to carry representing their connection to the condition.
For the Fricker family, the day will have extra special significance, with their youngest daughter Mabel, chosen to be the Bunbury HeartKids ambassador.
For Joanne Fricker, her daughters diagnosis came as a shock and she is determined to spread awareness of the disease.
“You don’t really hear much about it so it was a real shock to discover that it is one of the biggest killers of babies in Australia,” she said.
“Eight babies are born a week with congenital heart disease.
“The biggest thing for me is to raise awareness for congenital heart disease and hopefully have more people jump on board in terms of fundraisers and just the knowledge of it.”
Describing Mabel as a sweet, energetic little girl who loves to sing and dance, Ms Fricker is thankful it wasn’t worse.
“Even though we nearly lost her I was still thankful for what she had compared to some of the other kids,” she said.
"She was so close to not being here with us but she’s doing really well now, she’s out of the critical stage of it returning.”
For more information visit heartkids.org.au.
