NATCHEZ — Members of the Miss-Lou community gathered Saturday to fight heart-related disease one step at a time.

The American Heart Association’s Miss-Lou Heart Walk event was Saturday morning, and 29 teams from the area participated, Regional Director for the American Heart Association JoAnn Marshall said.

Though the collected money for the walk — a fundraiser — had not yet been counted, the teams brought in in excess of $30,000, Marshall said.

The walk had two routes, a 3.1-mile walk and an alternate one-mile walk for those who were unable to complete the longer trek.

Ricky Crosby, of Brookhaven, said he went to the walk to show support for his son, Lucas.

Lucas Crosby, now seven-years-old, had to have open-heart surgery at the age of six after doctors discovered he had a subaortic membrane, a condition that altered blood flow through the different chambers in his heart.

Almost two years later, Lucas is now doing fine, Crosby said.

“He’s (Lucas) up and going,” he said.

Natchez resident Kenny Dukes, the chairman of the Miss-Lou event, was also there as a heart disease survivor.

“They were able to treat the disease with medicines and so I didn’t need to have surgery,” he said. “The disease was stopped where it was, and I’m here trying to keep up the good work.”

The American Heart Association is second only to the U.S. government in funding for heart-related research, Marshall said.

“Our goals are to build healthier lives free of heart disease and stroke through research and education,” she said.

Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the United States, and stroke stands at number three, Marshall said.

The American Heart Association provided funding for the researchers who developed Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation — CPR— and the artificial heart, Marshall said.