Needham student national ambassador for heart health

The first five months of Cassidy Rucker’s life involved an open heart surgery after doctors heard a heart murmur one week after her birth.

Now in fourth grade at Needham Elementary School, Rucker is highly active, playing golf, volleyball and basketball. Her perseverance has earned her the title of American Heart Hero, the first Hoosier to ever earn the distinction given by the American Heart Association, who selected 40 American students to represent the organization.

She lives with Tetralogy of Fallot, a rare heart condition that affects one of every 2,000 babies. The diagnosis means she was born with four heart defects that caused oxygen-poor blood to flow out of her heart and to the rest of her body.

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Tara Rucker, Cassidy’s mother, said the condition does not hinder her daughter much. She just needs to stay hydrated, although her life will include heart surgery every 12 to 15 years.

Starting four years ago, Cassidy began making speeches at Franklin Community High School and Franklin College about her condition, about when doctors heard her heart murmur and when she had surgery. She will likely get more opportunities on even larger stages to share her story with her new American Heart Association platform.

Tara Rucker said she is hopeful her daughter will get a chance to speak at a Go Red for Women’s event, which the American Heart Association puts on to raise awareness for women with heart conditions.

She’s already been working to raise money for awareness. Before she became a Needham student, the school was hosting the Kids’ Heart Challenge, formerly known as the Jump Rope Challenge. The challenge encourages donations to the American Heart Association, and allows children to participate in a physical activity that the school decides upon. Those activities have included jump rope, dodgeball and a warrior course.

During the first year Cassidy Rucker was at Needham, four years ago, the school raised less than $1,000. During the 2017-18 school year, however, Cassidy Rucker was able to raise $1,400, and the school raised $10,000. She said her goal this year is to raise $2,000, with a school goal of $10,300.

“Cassidy, because of her kind spirit and being a leader, I think other kids follow her and when she is raising money she motivates the whole school to pitch in more,” Needham physical education teacher Linzie Spaulding said.

At the Heart Challenge in February, her speech was recorded and was submitted to the American Heart Association in late spring. In August, she got the news that she was chosen by the association.

“We put out a call for stories throughout the U.S. and we selected 40 students that are heart heroes, survivors who are walking ambassadors in their community sharing their stories,” American Heart Association Youth Market Director Jen Nanny said. “Through advancements in research with the American Heart Association, they are able to live normal, happy lives and able to encourage others to (not only) take care of their own hearts but also encourage other survivors that you can do anything you want.”

Cassidy Rucker said the distinction is meaningful to her not only because of the platform it gives her to reach others, but because of the rarity of being selected.

“It means a lot,” Cassidy Rucker said said. “I thought there would be more people who would have got it, but there’s so few people.”