NATCHEZ — Each year a local family is selected to serve as the poster family for the American Heart Association’s MissLou Heart Walk.

This year’s poster family is the Huff family of Natchez. Keith and Angie Trisler Huff are the proud parents of sons Ethan, age 5, and Aiden, 9 months. The Huff family knows firsthand the importance of the research conducted by the American Heart Association because their youngest child was born with a heart defect.

Aiden was born with a heart murmur on Jan. 16, 2007, at Natchez Regional Medical Center. The next day, an echocardiogram revealed that Aiden has a two-chamber heart. Aiden was then transported to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UMC in Jackson where he was diagnosed with Heterotaxy with Double Outlet Right Ventricle, Pulmonary Stenosis and an Atrioventricular Canal defect. He was able to go home for the first time on Jan. 21.

DORV is a condition in which the pulmonary artery, the artery that delivers deoxygenated blood to the lungs, and the Aorta, the artery that delivers oxygenated blood to the body; both emerge from the heart’s right ventricle.

AVC is a condition in which the muscle and tissue that separates the two upper chambers of the heart, the two atrioventricular valves, and the two lower chambers of the heart is partially missing. PS is a restriction in the pulmonary artery that limits blood flow from the heart to the lungs. Overall, Aiden’s condition causes oxygenated blood and deoxygenated blood to mix in his heart, forcing his heart to work harder to deliver blood to his lungs and body.

Aiden had already had two surgeries in his short life to help correct these defects. He had one surgery in July and another in August at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. Both surgeries went well and he is thriving. Aiden will have another surgery some time between his first and second birthdays.

The Huff family said they are grateful for the research and medical interventions that have been made possible through the research of the American Heart Association. Aiden is alive today and will have the chance for a normal life thanks to those advances. The Huff family has decided to honor Aiden and to help the American Heart Association by forming Team Aiden for the Miss-Lou Heart Walk.

Team Aiden has already raised over $9,000 for the American Heart Association and continues to seek donations. Donations for Team Aiden are being collected at Cathedral School, Adams County Christian School, Just 4 You Monograms and Gifts, La Fiesta, Subway of Natchez, and Subway of Vidalia. In addition, Team Aiden is holding a raffle for a beautiful framed oil painting donated by Dianne’s Frame Shop, a four piece camouflage ATV accessory package donated by Sports Center, and a Mary Kay private spa collection donated by Mary George Collins. Tickets are $2 each or three for $5. The drawing for these items will take place at the Miss-Lou Heart Walk.

Team Aiden is being sponsored by several local companies: the gold sponsors are Miss-Lou OBGyn (Dr. Kofi Kumi), Jordan Carriers, Wilbert & Diane Trisler; the silver sponsors are Brookhaven Children’s Clinic, W.T. Drilling Co., Inc.; the bronze sponsors are Etheridge Hardware, Pyron’s Furniture, First Baptist Church of Jonesville, Jonesville Woman’s Club, Jonesville Lions Club, Southern Heritage Bank, Miss-Lou Drilling Supply Co., W.T. Drilling Co., Inc.; and the T-shirt sponsors are Reeves Drug Store, Rives and Reynolds Lumber, Woodhaven Corporation, and The Cap Company.

Please join the Huff family and the other Heart Walk teams at the Miss-Lou Heart Walk on Saturday, Nov. 3, on the Natchez bluff. Registration is at 8 a.m., opening ceremonies are at 8:30 a.m., and the Heart Walk begins at 9 a.m. The Miss-Lou Heart Walk is free and open to the public.