{"id":414125,"date":"2026-09-29T22:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T22:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/414125\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T22:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T22:18:09","slug":"open-heart-surgery-survivors-lead-jacksonville-schools-first-ever-heart-walk-on-national-heart-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/414125\/","title":{"rendered":"Open-heart surgery survivors lead Jacksonville school\u2019s first ever Heart Walk on National Heart Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Over 700 students and staff at John E. Ford PreK-8th came together Tuesday for the school\u2019s first-ever Heart Walk, decorating the halls with paper hearts and walking together to the track field in honor of National Heart Day.<\/p>\n

Three people led the way, the school\u2019s principal and two students.<\/p>\n

Their stories made this march unlike anything the school has seen before.<\/p>\n

Principal Tina Bennett underwent open-heart surgery earlier this year before returning to her students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to stay in the hospital and have open heart surgery. I was out for about 12 weeks, recovering,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tina Bennett is the principal of John E. Ford and had open-heart surgery. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Third grader Kori Phillips has faced the operating table not once, but three times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had three open heart surgeries and it\u2019s not easy to be away from your friends and family,\u201d Kori said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Kori Phillips is a 3rd grader who had three open-heart surgeries. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

And sixth grader Parker Angiuli had open-heart surgery when he was just an infant, before he was old enough to remember it.<\/p>\n

Walking as living examples<\/p>\n

Together, the three of them led nearly 700 classmates around the school showing every single one of them that heart health is something worth talking about at every age.<\/p>\n

Bennett says the experience changed her and she hopes it changes her students too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I\u2019m in the right place being a principal, and I have influence over kids that hopefully it\u2019ll change their lives forever. The experience I had, I know the people around me have paid attention to that. You know saying, maybe I need to get my health checked. So hopefully it\u2019ll save some lives,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n

Keepsakes they will carry forever<\/p>\n

Kori and Parker may not remember every detail of their time in the hospital but they each left with something that will stay with them forever.<\/p>\n

For Kori, a collection of beads earned during her hospital stays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are all my beads. You can like put it around your neck to show,\u201d Kori said.<\/p>\n

For Parker, a turtle, with his hospital bracelet still attached. <\/p>\n

\"\"Parker Angiuli had open-heart surgery when he was an infant and keeps this turtle with the hospital bracelet attached. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Two small keepsakes. Two big reminders of just how far they have both come.<\/p>\n

Both students say they are grateful to be here and even more grateful that their stories are giving their classmates a reason to take their heart health seriously.<\/p>\n

A message for everyone<\/p>\n

Bennett says one of the most important steps anyone can take is getting a heart calcium test, a screening that assesses long-term risk of coronary artery disease and helps guide preventive measures before a problem develops.<\/p>\n

And she hopes today\u2019s walk is just the beginning, becoming an annual tradition at John E. Ford that keeps the message of heart health alive for years to come.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Over 700 students and staff at John E. Ford PreK-8th came together Tuesday for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[571,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-414125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-health","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}