BUTLER TWP — Ella Stewart might be only two months past her first birthday, but she has already led a miraculous life.

Her mother, Stacy Stewart of Slippery Rock, was close to tears Thursday morning as she told her daughter's story at the American Heart Association Start Heart Walk kickoff at Butler County Community College.

Shortly after Ella's birth June 19, 2009, she was on the operating table battling to stay alive. A rare heart condition called Cor Triatriatum Dexter was stifling blood flow through her heart, and emergency open heart surgery was the only answer.

But more than a year later, Ella looked lively, often reaching for the microphone during her mother's presentation Thursday morning, and there seemed to be little trace of the trauma that enveloped the child at birth.

Stories like these are what make the American Heart Association Heart Walk tick, along with support from county residents and local organizations.

Team leaders representing a number of local companies met at Founder's Hall to recall their connections with heart disease and motivate each other to reach the $100,000 donation goal set for this year.

Joe Taylor, vice president and general manager for Armstrong, chaired the opening event, which included 40 team leaders from the Butler Memorial Hospital Heart and Vascular Center, Penn United Technologies and other organizations.

The walk will begin at 10 a.m. Oct. 9 from the BC3 campus. The three-mile benefit will loop the campus, with a shorter, alternate route available for those who need it.

Registration will start at 9 a.m. that day.

Participants also may register online at www.americanheart.org/bmwwalk.

To learn more about the Butler, Marshall, Warrendale Heart Walk, call Barbara Roth, division director of the American Heart Association, at 724-453-1004.

About 500 people participated in last year's event, generating $64,000 in donations. The year before that, $82,000 was raised, Roth said.

Roth encouraged residents and companies to get involved.

"This is for Butler County," Roth said.

"This is the only walk we have in the entire county."

The Butler Eagle is a media sponsor for the October event.