By Lee Hurley
Birmingham, Alabama, surprises many visitors. It’s our hills that catch them off guard first, people tend to think of us as Kansas down south. The fact that we sit at the beginning of the Appalachian Mountains is unique and interesting and throws carpetbaggers off guard. Perhaps a lesser surprise is our national prominence in Orthopedics and Cardiovascular care. Those aren’t the only two areas of medicine we excel in, but they have put us on the map as a destination for care.
Ask Brian Barze—this year’s Heart Ball chairman along with his wife Wendy—about cardiovascular care in Birmingham, and they will tell you that heart doctors at Children’s Hospital saved their four-day old son Jay’s life. Soon after they came home from the hospital, they noticed Jay’s labored breathing and the late (wonderful) Dr. Tommy Amason sent them straight to the ER. Jay was born in 2000 with a congenital (meaning from birth) heart defect called Coarctation of the aorta, which was preventing him from getting oxygen-rich blood to the lower half of his body. Doctors stabilized him, and a few days later, Dr. Al Pacifico did open heart surgery on their eight-pound baby. Thankfully it was a complete success. Jay grew up to live a perfectly normal life, playing football for Mountain Brook High School and active in all kinds of ways.
“I’m forever amazed how this thing touched our lives,” says Wendy Barze. “When it’s your child with this type issue, it’s the most important thing that’s ever happened. It’s overwhelming, and nothing else matters. But what I did not know at the time is that a pediatric cardiologist follows these patients for life. As an adult, Jay sees Dr. Mark Cribs who knows his entire history. When you’re a 24-year-old, it’s a bit of a different how you take care of yourself. Words like wellness and life balance get a lot of attention but they have serious meaning here.”
Jay Barze is not the only member of the Barze family to experience heart issues. A few years after Jay’s birth, when Wendy was pregnant with their third son Edward, Brian was diagnosed with a congenital issue that went undiagnosed into adulthood. “I had what’s called atrial septal defect, which is a hole in the heart wall that separates the upper chambers of the heart,” Brian says. “I had rhythm issues and irregular and rapid heartbeat, so I got an ablation, which is a procedure that uses heat or freezing to destroy heart tissue that causes irregular heartbeats.” That too has turned out to have a happy ending, but as Barze will tell you “not all of these stories have happy endings.”
And so it’s the gratitude for their positive health outcomes along with a passion for helping others and supporting our world-class medical community that compelled the formidable philanthropic power couple of Brian and Wendy Barze to take on the Chairmanship of this year’s Heart Ball. The Birmingham Heart Ball has raised over $19 million for local cardiovascular research, advocacy, and education efforts which is no small chunk of change.
As the CFO of PS Logistics, Barze has given plenty of time and money to causes, but heart health is a passion. “In Birmingham what I think is really compelling is those who give to cardiovascular care locally get multiple times for their donation because of all the research grants and dollars we receive,” Barze says. As the chairman of the ball Barzes’ main function is to help raise money, which is not always the most pleasant task. “I knew this would be out of my comfort zone, but I really feel strongly about the reason.” If Brian is the chief money raiser then Wendy is the chief party planner, and as Brian says, “That is why the Heart Ball is going to be an amazing event.”
This year’s ball is Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Birmingham Country Club, and it’s actually the 101st anniversary celebration of the founding of the American Heart Association. The event is sponsored by Encompass Health and Motion Industries, and throughout the evening as the guests come clad in black tie and hopefully wearing red, the Association will recognize volunteers and patrons, feature stories of survivors and entertain guests with dinner, dancing and an auction. “We also have some serious signature cocktails,” Wendy says, “thanks to the generosity of Chad Kelly with United Johnson Brothers. And this could never have been planned without Beth Gregory, Kayla Owen, Hannah Pryor and so many others.” Last but not least, this year’s event will honor Johnny Johns, former chief executive officer of Protective Life, and his wife Nancy with the Association’s Heart of Gold Award in recognition of their philanthropic support of the Birmingham community.
“We are so grateful to Brian and Wendy for their leadership and support, says AHA executive director Lizzi Willicott. “The Heart Ball is an opportunity for us not only to celebrate the amazing progress we’ve made in the fight against heart disease and stroke, but also to showcase the impact that we are making in the Birmingham community today.”
Amen.
