DECATUR - A 2-year-old toddler, a 6-year-old girl and 54-year-old man share a happiness to be alive.

They have all suffered from heart disease.

Kaneia Smith, 6, was warmly clothed in a pink jacket and wore a red cap that represented she was a heart survivor.

She joined the nearly 1,000 other heart survivors, family members and friends Saturday at the Macon County Heart Walk in Fairview Park.

"I'm going to run and beat everybody," said Kaneia, whose eyes lighted up.

She was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy and had a heart transplant at age 3.

"We would go walking, and she would just pass out on me. I thought she was just being lazy and didn't want to walk," said her mother, Sue Smith.

Kaneia was placed on a heart transplant waiting list in 2001 and by March 2002 had a new heart.

"God is good," Sue Smith said as she prepared to walk with her daughter. "When people look at Kaneia today, they can never tell that she was ever sick."

Austin Clark, 2, was born with a congenital heart defect. When he was four months old he had open heart surgery.

However, he remained in a somber, quiet mood before the walk event began and shied away from the attention he was getting.

"I think this is a very important event to bring awareness in getting the word out about heart disease that affects everyone in some way," Jamie Clark said while holding her son.

Then you have Patrick Hall, 54, who is so physically fit that he could run in the Boston Marathon.

He heads to the gym every morning about 6 a.m. and works out on the treadmill, stair stepper and lifts a few weights.

But exercising was the furthest thing from Hall's mind a few years ago.

Hall talked about that day in 2003 when he was lying in bed and felt the pounding of his heart ringing in his ear and the loud beating never calming down.

Later, doctors found blockages in Hall's arteries, resulting in five heart bypass surgeries.

"You think you are invisible," he said. "What happened just made me realize how I need to take better care of myself, exercise and eat right."

Even Debby Meador, 46, realized she wouldn't be around today if it hadn't been for the 135 pounds she lost after a gastric bypass surgery. Here excessive weight contributed to her having suffered from six strokes. Both her parents died from heart-related illnesses.

"Women have heart attacks all the time and don't know it, just like my mother, and then it was too late," Meador said.

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the leading killer of women.

"About 80 percent of heart disease can be prevented," said Anne Davis, co-chairwoman of the 2005 Macon County Heart Walk.

She quoted more statistics showing someone suffers a heart attack every 26 seconds and that America's youth are becoming overweight and showing signs of heart disease.

She said the funds raised during the walk will help support heart disease, stroke research and education programs.

Despite the brisk cold, people were in good spirits as they walked for themselves, a child, a husband, wife, brother, sister, co-worker or dear friend.

Sheila Smith can be reached at sheilas@;herald-review.com or 421-7963.