By Lasia Kretzel

Heart and Stroke Foundation kicks off Heart Health month

Jan 26, 2014 | 8:00 AM

Five years ago, Roger Kostron’s life changed in an instant.

The now 35-year-old suffered a stroke and the resulting scar tissue on his brain left him with periodic seizures.

“It brings you back down to earth,” Kostron said.

“You always think you're six feet tall and bullet proof and unfortunately it takes situations like that to sometimes sit a person back and think 'you don't have tomorrow' so you live each day as if it's your last.”

The doctors said the stroke was caused by a birth defect in a cluster of blood vessels in Kostron’s brain but it doesn’t diminish the fact that every seven minutes, someone in Canada will die from a heart or stroke related illness.

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Saturday marked the official kick-off of the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) annual campaign. February is heart health month and it’s accompanied by door knocking, fundraising, and awareness generation.

Canvassers were at Lawson Heights Mall to pick up their pamphlets and take a course in hands-only CPR. This is Kostron’s first campaign.

“I just felt over the course of the past five years between stroke, surgery, seizures, it was time for me to possibly give something back,” he said.

HSF hopes to raise $80,000 in Saskatoon alone.

“The money raised here today will help us create survivors,” HSF fundraising specialist Amanda Titman said, adding the campaign does more than raise money.

“We’re educating people. So we’re leaving things on people’s doors. We’re inviting people to be part of the Heart and Stroke Foundation.”

According to Statistics Canada, heart disease and stroke are two of the three leading causes of death in Canada. Meanwhile, they cost the Canadian economy more than $20.9 billion every year in physician services, hospital costs, lost wages and decreased productivity according to the Conference Board of Canada.

lkretzel@rawlco.com

Follow on Twitter: @lkretzel