Molly Burdick brought herself back from congenital heart disease step by step.
The 33-year-old Portland resident began by conquering the stairs in her home. Then came walking around a track. Then came walking the straight sections of the track, and running the curves. Then came daily Zumba classes. Then she started hiking again, then rock climbing and climbing competitions.
And finally, May 11 Burdick will begin to compete for a spot on “American Ninja Warrior.” She’ll need to notch consecutive top-two finishes in competitions in the women’s division next week to grab a place on the reality TV show, where contestants tackle obstacle courses.
But before Burdick undertakes her dream of becoming the first “American Ninja Warrior” with congenital heart disease, she’ll be the featured speaker at the American Heart Association’s Heart and Stroke Walk at Esther Short Park on Sunday. It’s the first time the walk has taken place in Vancouver since 2014.
Burdick, who works at Nike, said her message Sunday will focus on how she’s not fearless or special. She sees herself as just someone who found an inner drive to try to overcome her diagnosis.
“It is about beating the disease,” Burdick said. “It’s about not letting the disease win. It’s about trying to show that if I can take my life back, then others can do the same.”
In 2011 Burdick woke up in the middle of the night with a heart rate of 180 beats per minute. That’s when a shift happened in Burdick’s life. She was stabilized by doctors that time, but after that scare Burdick’s heart was erratic. She had frequent panic attacks. Medications and procedures weren’t working, and Burdick even saw a psychologist.
The way Burdick built herself back up, she says, is through coming to the realization that she couldn’t live a life restricted from activity. So she started walking up those stairs, and one thing built upon the other. Now she runs five miles twice a week and does rock climbing and bouldering for 90 minutes five days a week. She’s climbed Smith Rock in Oregon, and in Joshua Tree National Park in California.
“It wasn’t overnight. It wasn’t easy,” Burdick said of her road to where she is now. “It took a lot of grinding away. It took a lot of good days. It took a lot of bad days.”
Return of the walk
Lanette Trickey, the executive director for American Heart Association Oregon & Southwest Washington, said Sunday’s walk is the organization’s “mission in action,” since it has a physical fitness focus. There is a 5K walk, and a one-mile walk for those who are mobility impaired.
Runners are welcome to join, too, she said. Trickey said one of her favorite parts of the walk is watching people introduce their co-workers to their families. She also loves seeing the survivors. Heart disease survivors get a red hat, and stroke survivors get a white hat to wear. Vancouver Clinic signed on to be the presenting sponsor of the walk through 2021.
“That gave us the support we needed to bring it back as a sustainable event,” Trickey said.
