The Breanna Vergara Foundation is hosting the Breanna Vergara 5K and Color Run at Miami Lakes Picnic Park West, 15101 N.W. 82 Ave, on Sunday, December 13. The race schedule is as follows: registration from 6 to 7:15 a.m.; start of timed 5K race at 7:30 a.m.; start of 1 mile color run at 8:30 a.m.; concluding award ceremony at 9 a.m.
Registration is now open. Those interested in participating may sign up online at https://runsignup.com/Race/FL/Hialeah/TheBreannaVergara5K. Those who register before December 1 receive a free shirt. The fees are $30 for the 5K, $20 for the one mile Color Run, and $40 for both the 5K and Color Run.
Sponsors for the event include Sunshine Towing, Miami Dancity Studios, Vicky Bakery, Vigilante Associates Custom Glass Systems, Italy Today Restaurant, Crazy Fork, Cancun Grill, The Glam Studio, Timed Events, Bella Chic Boutique, the Town of Miami Lakes, and Diamonette.
For more information on the Breanna Vergara Foundation or to become a sponsor, visit www.breannavergarafoundation.org.
December 9, only a handful of days before the 5K and Color Run event, will mark one year since Breanna Vergara’s passing. Vergara, an 11-year-old Miami Lakes Middle Schooler, collapsed in the middle of dance practice at Miami Dancity Studios on a Tuesday evening surrounded by fellow dancers, friends, and Miami Dancity Studios owner, Yvonne Alvarez. Vergara had been dancing since she was a toddler at Dance Creations Dance Studio (DCDA) in Hialeah and had recently begun attending Miami Dancity Studios.
“Breanna story has so much to it,” said Alvarez. “She was extremely talented and would have been one of the strongest dancers here. The little time we had with her was enough to fall in love with her. She clicked right away with all the dancers and formed friendships.”
Despite the immediate application of CPR by nurses and an ambulance that arrived approximately 5 minutes later, Vergara succumbed to Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW). WPW is an electrical heart abnormality that is often asymptomatic and can be cured with surgery. The defect is easily picked up on an electrocardiogram (EKG) however as most pediatricians don’t suggest EKG’s unless they suspect one is needed, children often go without testing which would reveal the otherwise asymptomatic condition that is exacerbated with increased heart rate.
“She looked like a flower falling,” said a teary-eyed Alvarez about the incident.
Vergara’s parents, Jesus and Claudia, and her younger sister Gabriela, would not find out the cause of death until 6 months later when the autopsy revealed WPW. Since then the Vergara family has made it their goal to continue Breanna’s legacy and to raise awareness about WPW for families and parents who, like they once were, may be unaware about the condition and cure.
The Breanna Vergara Foundation was founded with intent to offer opportunities for children to participate in extracurricular activities, such as dance, while creating awards for heart screenings in an effort to identify children at risk of WPW and any other form of sudden cardiac arrest. In the past year the foundation has donated Automated External Defibrillator (AED) devices to Real Dance Studio at Lighthouse Point and DCDA, and will be donating one to Intensity Dancer’s Studio. Since the incident Miami Dancity Studios has had their own AED device installed and staff trained on how to use it.
“We are doing this so that no parent has to live through the nightmare that we have gone through and will continue to go through for the rest of our lives,” said Jesus.
Money raised from the 5K and Color Run will go toward continuing to fund the aforementioned Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s Cardiology Department to fund a mobile EKG unit service that the hospital can take to schools, sport centers, dance studios and others. Nicklaus Children’s Hospital offers free EKG screenings to middle school and high school students. While in 2014 the hospital gave approximately 500 free screenings, in May 2015, the month the Vergaras found out about the WPW diagnosis, the hospital gave over 500 in that month alone. Many of those who went in for a screening cited Breanna as the reason why.
Since then at least 7 other children have been diagnosed and underwent surgery to correct the condition. The Town of Miami Lakes has moved forward to require EKG tests to participate in sports. Local dance studios have done the same in asking for a clean bill of health prior to enrollment. Breanna’s passing inspired the students of Bob Graham Education Center to push forward on the initiative to require EKG’s for participation in any sport. The students hope to create a policy change that would affect the entire state of Florida.
“We need to let her legacy live on,” said Claudia. “Her death was not in vain.”
The Vergaras, sometimes with others and sometimes just amongst themselves, release balloons on the 9th of every month for their daughter. The 5K and Color Run is an event whose vibrant colors and picturesque moments embody the youth and radiance of the fiercely talented and beloved Breanna Vergara.