By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
It’s been a long year for Judy Bratz, the treasurer of Burlington’s Hope Walk board.
The annual event, which was started to raise money to help people through life-limiting illnesses, is being moved to September to better fit the calendar.
That move couldn’t come at a better time for Bratz, who had been dealing with atrial fibrillation since April of last year. Over the last 12 months, she had to have her heart rhythm converted twice before having an ablation procedure done in July.
She’s gotten a first-hand view of the Aurora medical facilities, having started at Aurora Memorial Hospital of Burlington and then moving to St. Luke’s in Milwaukee.
It’s a different view for Bratz, who has campaigned for years with the Hope Walk – which started as a Relay for Life-type overnight event and has now evolved into a series of fundraisers and a 5K run/walk.
“I make a better caregiver than I do a patient,” Bratz said. “If one more person told me I needed to slow down, I was going to clock them one.”
The medical issue has limited what Bratz has been able to do – the very definition of what the Hope Walk is hoping to bring awareness to.
“When you go in for the ablation, they have you get there three hours ahead of time,” Bratz said. “You have three hours to think about what could happen.
“Even when I first went to the ER here, they were very caring,” she added. “They talked to my husband, my daughter, my whole family, even though I was too out of it to know how serious it was.”
She remembers the trip to the Burlington ER, and doctors placing the defibrillator pads on her chest.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, this is bad,’” Bratz said.
Now, a year later, Bratz feels like she hasn’t slowed down, though she does pay better attention to her health.
“So any little thing now, I’ve got to stop and pay attention,” she said.
The extra few months to plan will come in handy. Bratz said the switch to September will help avoid the numerous running events in the spring, as well as graduations – both high school and college.
The new date for the Hope Walk is Saturday, Sept. 24. Registration for the run will be 7:30 a.m. with the run starting at 8:30 a.m.
There will not be a Candle of Hope ceremony this year, but there will be a luminary-type event. The group will still do the survivor lap to kick off the event, plus the opening and closing lap of the race will be on the track.
For more details as the event grows closer, call Bratz at Town Bank at (262) 767-3220. The Hope Walk website is current under reconstruction.
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