Montvale Parents Raise $31,000 Through Children's Heart Organization

MONTVALE, N.J. — Cooper Palatnek of Montvale stood no more than three feet tall at the Pascack Valley High School track in a sea of nine other children just like him on Sunday afternoon.

Cooper Palatnek, 5, takes a victory lap around the track at Pascack Valley High School.
Photo Credit: *Jaime Palatnek*

Cecilia Levine

05/16/2016 1:32 p.m.

For the first time, the smiley 5-year-old and others in the group stood united with purpose as they celebrated the launch of the Children's Heart Foundation's New Jersey chapter before taking a victory lap.

Cooper's parents, Todd and Jaime Palatnek, spearheaded the effort -- and raised $31,000 in the process.

Still making sense of his own journey, Cooper turned to his mother after the Superhearts Walk and asked why the other children didn't join.

"Sometimes I think he thinks everyone was born with a 'special heart,'" Jaime Palatnek said. "Sometimes people tell him he had a broken heart and now it's fixed.

"And that drives me mad," she said. "I always tell him nothing was broken -- just special."

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