Organized by the Heart of Life Fund, this initiative seeks to increase awareness of heart disease, educate young people on healthy lifestyles and raise funds for the Cardiology Department at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
“As a professional player, I have always considered it a privilege to practice a sport that I love,” said Biello. “But l think that we must also remind ourselves how lucky we are to be healthy while so many people struggle with life-threatening conditions. This is why I am happy to be a spokesperson for the Heart Week.”
In addition to the presence of high performance athletes at the launch, internationally renowned choreographer Connie Rotella premiered ‘The Heart of Life’, a song inspired by her son Alessandro Gabrielli who was born with congenital heart disease.
During Heart Week, students with healthy hearts are asked to bring a small donation to help a child with a “broken heart”, while wearing a red garment to show their friendship towards children with more fragile hearts. Last year’s school campaign raised over $40,000 for the cause.
Funds collected during Heart Week help to purchase state-of-the-art equipment and contribute to a brighter, healthier future for the many children suffering from cardiac illnesses.
One in 100 children is born with a heart defect and this rate is 10 times higher than for any other childhood illness.
The Heart of Life Fund is associated with the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. It was created in 1997 by parents of children born with heart defects who had undergone, at birth or at a very young age, a complex open-heart surgery.
Note that the Montreal Impact is back from its pre-season training camp in Italy and that players will resume training, Thursday, at 10 a.m., at the Catalogna Soccerplexe, in Lachine.
PHOTOS PÉPÉ
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Contacts:
Claudia Gervais
Montreal Impact
(514) 328-3368 #34
Mario Bentrovato
The Heart of Life Fund
(514) 910-8935
info@heartoflife.ca
