For Tammie Brainard and her family, the number 13 has always been lucky.
When her father, Doug, had a heart attack in January, 1995, it was a big surprise for her family. There had been no warning signs, she said. Before they knew it, he was scheduled for open heart surgery.
It was Friday the 13th — a day most consider unlucky.
Her father made it through, and she said he was one of the first people to receive a titanium heart stent.
Ms. Brainard, 54, now a senior manager at William Vaughan Co., still hasn’t forgotten what the number 13 has meant to her family.
In October, she was nominated to be a Toledo Leader of Impact, a fund-raising competition through the American Heart Association. As a participant, Ms. Brainard had to decide on a goal.
“Thirteen thousand dollars just popped into my head,” she said.
Alongside five other Toledo nominees, she participated in the competition from Oct. 17 to Dec. 4.
“You’re encouraged to create a team of people, so you weren’t the only one fund-raising,” she said. “It could be anyone, so I had three people from my company and then my sister.”