Samsung Austin Semiconductor smashes 2022 Heart Walk fundraising goal

Hundreds of Samsung Austin Semiconductor employees and their families tied their shoelaces and got moving to benefit the 2022 Austin Heart & Stroke Walk on a windy Saturday morning. This year, the Heart Walk was held at the Q2 stadium in north Austin where attendees got a chance to learn about heart health and meet with vendors. Over the past couple of months, employees held fun and interactive fundraisers to raise money for the Heart Walk. From karaoke challenges to the slightly messy pie-in-the-face, we ended up raising approximately $110,000 for the American Heart Association, surpassing our goal of $75,000. Thank you to all of our employees who made a donation and came out to the Heart Walk! Learn more about how we're committed to making a difference by clicking here. A Survivor's Story Kathy Chou, a senior engineer on our Process Integration team, served as one of our Heart Walk coaches and was featured at the event's Survivor Lane—which shared inspiring stories from people who had their own battles with heart disease or stroke. Chou suffered heart failure and a stroke shortly after delivering her daughter 17 years ago, when she was 28 years old. Chou had her discharge papers from the hospital, but her baby had to stay a few more days so the hospital allowed her stay. "And that same night, it happened…I collapsed. They thought it was a seizure," Chou recalled. "CPR wasn’t cutting it, so they brought out the defibrillator and shocked me three times before they finally got a response."

_{Kathy Chou, left, participating in the Pie-in-the-Face fundraiser at work.} Fifty-eight minutes. That's the amount of time Chou was unresponsive. Chou remained in a coma for a week, during which doctors also implanted a defibrillator. When Chou finally regained consciousness, she had no memory of the medical emergency or that she had a newborn. "They had to remind me every day of what happened because I forgot every night…ventricular tachycardia, complete cardiac failure, total pulmonary failure, stroke, paralysis...and, oh yeah, you have an one-week-old daughter," Chou said. Chou had to learn how to walk again and how to perform basic functions. Over the next couple of years, she was able to overcome the worst effects of the stroke.

_{Kathy Chou, left, and her family at the 2022 Heart Walk.} For Chou, participating in the Heart Walk gives her a chance to support an organization that helped her before and after the traumatic event. "The continued research helps make my defibrillator more robust (and potentially less invasive in future iterations) and I know first hand how the seamless support they provide to health care providers can help everyone be more heart health and stroke aware—that is invaluable." Read more about Chou's reason to walk by clicking here.