Winter weather didn't dampen enthusiasm for the 27th annual Mid-Missouri Heart Ball on Saturday night.
About 720 people arrived late in the afternoon at the Capitol Plaza Hotel for the black-tie event, which celebrates the work of the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association.
As the celebrants participated in silent and live auctions, weather outside took a turn for the worse. Ice accumulated in the streets and on cars. Organizers of the event said they made arrangements for people at the ball to stay in the hotel at reduced rates if needed.
Inside, members of the medical and corporate communities gathered to raise money for education and research, and to finance advocacy and educational programs for cardiovascular disease and stroke. Nationally last year, the Heart Ball campaign raised more than $71 million for programs across the country.
The event gets bigger every year, ball Chairwoman Jennifer Schnieders said.
New for this year, she said, was mobile bidding on the silent auction items.
The mobile bidding allowed bidders to view items and begin bidding early, Schnieders said.
"At one point (Friday) night we already had $8,000 in bids," Schnieders said.
The year 2017 was record-breaking, but organizers hoped to top it this year.
Among attendees at the ball this year was the 2018 Heart Child, 5-year-old Harper Hummel. Harper danced and chatted with attendees during the VIP and cocktail receptions held before the ball.
Her mother and father, Jessica and Paul Hummel, followed her through the crowd, the tube to her oxygen bottle her parents carried kept her always connected with them.
Harper was born with a rare congenital heart defect - her heart only had three chambers. With the defect, she also had an underdeveloped right lung.
She's undergone four surgeries since birth, her father said. The most recent, undergone in 2014, removed the underdeveloped lung.
Paul Hummel said the American Heart Association has been funding research that has led to new treatments and medications that help Harper and other children like her.
Jessica Hummel told listeners at the event that their efforts are the reason Harper is still with her family. The money raised during the evening, Jessica reiterated, would help hundreds of families like theirs.
To raise money, the AHA received more than 150 donated items for the 2018 auctions.
Furniture, flooring, wine, trips and tours, vases, art, coolers, sporting equipment, jewelry and many other items were donated for the event.
Joe Wang, a gastroenterologist at Jefferson City Medical Group, served as the keynote speaker, and his voice broke as he talked about his survival from a heart attack as well as a colleague's death from a heart attack.
"I had drank some grape juice and had a little heartburn and thought it was just bad grape juice," Wang said. "It quickly became severe, crushing chest pain with sweats and weakness."
He was playing guitar at his church about two years ago, got off stage and called his wife. In the 12 minutes it took paramedics to get him to St. Mary's Hospital, they discovered a "tombstone pattern" on his electrocardiogram, which indicates a high mortality rate if not treated immediately.
Doctors were able to place a stent in a blood vessel within about 30 minutes, saving his life. His colleague, Jerry Moline, was a family physician at Capital Region Medical Center. Moline had more subtle discomfort about six months ago. It felt like indigestion. Moline, whose daughter was a heart child 20 years ago, died after his heart attack.
Wang asked people at the ball raise a glass for their loved ones lost and to be generous at the auction.
Karen Englert, AHA Government Relations Director for Missouri, said events like the Heart Ball make it possible for the nonprofit organization to do what it does.
"We work really hard to raise money locally, so it stays local," she said. "I always appreciated that it stays in the area."