Jones Beach walk raises heart disease research funds

Many people who attended a heart disease fundraiser at Jones Beach Sunday wore red caps to signify their status as survivors, but Claudia Rudnet carried a more personal symbol - one of her babies.

Rudnet, 37, a middle school teacher who lives in Oyster Bay, brought 6-month-old Abigail and twin sister Hannah to the Long Island Start! Heart Walk. Abigail this year survived a bout with fetal supraventricular tachycardia, a rare heart condition that threatened both girls' lives.

While her husband, Ryan, 36, held Hannah, Claudia said the family wanted to participate in the annual American Heart Association event, which raises money for research and education about heart disease. Organizers honored Abigail as an "ambassador." About 2,000 people participated.

"It's important for us because we've been so lucky this year," said Claudia, who raised $4,500 in pledges along with her husband. "We wanted to speak out in a way that we could help other people."

Fetal supraventricular tachycardia, also called SVT, appears in about 0.4 percent of single pregnancies and is even less common in twins, said Dr. Russell Schiff, a pediatric cardiologist based at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola who treated Rudnet and the twins. The disease was diagnosed in Rudnet's 23rd week of pregnancy and caused Abigail's heart to beat twice as fast as typical, which caused blood to back up in her body, Schiff said.

Untreated, Abigail's disease could have killed her and jeopardized Hannah's life, Schiff said. A steady diet of medicine returned Abigail's heart rate to normal in a week, Schiff said, and the babies were born 2 1/2 months later, six weeks premature.

Today, both babies are healthy - a fact Schiff attributes in part to advances in heart medicine.

"Left alone, she would've died," Schiff said. "Today, they look beautiful."

Start! Heart Walk, which has taken place for about 15 years, raised at least $350,000 this year, said Kathy Munsch, regional vice president with the American Heart Association in Plainview.

The association estimates that more than 71 million Americans suffer from cardiovascular disease. Heart walk events take place in the fall and spring throughout the country; one will be held at Stony Brook University on Oct. 16.

The event is especially popular with people like the Rudnets whose lives have been touched by heart disease, said Munsch.

"We have a lot of survivors here," she said.