LITTLE GIRL, BIG HEART STROKE VICTIM, 10, SETS $10,000 GOAL IN CHARITY WALKATHON.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LAKE LOS ANGELES - When 10-year-old Alyx Torres cuts the ribbon to start the American Heart Association's Antelope Valley Heart Walk, it will symbolize her perseverance.

Two and a half years ago, a stroke paralyzed the girl's left side. Now she is back in school, plays soccer, and practices tae kwon do.

`'I have a lot of respect and a lot of pride in that child,'' said mother Lena Torres. ``They told me at first that she would die. Then they told me she would never walk.''

The Lake Los Angeles School fifth-grader is the American Heart Association ``red cap ambassador'' for the Antelope Valley fund-raising walk, scheduled for Nov. 4 at Lancaster City Park. She will be introduced Sept. 7 to the walk team captains.

``We were looking for somebody who would kind of personify what the American Heart Association is all about,'' said Pat Willett, executive director for the heart association in the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys.

The event's goal is to involve 800 walkers and raise $66,000, up from 670 walkers and $55,000 last year, Willett said.

Alyx has already raised more than $1,300 in pledges, including $1,000 from High Desert Medical Group and donations from Rally Chevrolet and Robertson's Palmdale Honda, her mother said.

The girl's personal goal is to raise $10,000.

Pledges can be made in Alyx's name by calling Willett at [phone] or Keppel Union School District nurse Bonnie Shook at [phone].

Dark-haired Alyx looks like a typical 10-year-old.

She puts her arm around her mother's waist and hugs her, listening to her mother's answers and correcting them if she thinks it's necessary - like whether the Backstreet Boys remain among her favorite music groups. Asked direct questions, she shrugs, nods and smiles shyly.

``Want me to show I can run?'' she asks, taking off at a trot around the Lake Los Angeles School playground.

Alyx's left side remains weak. She limps with her left leg and holds her left shoulder down. She can't button buttons or tie her shoes because of the weakness in her left hand. She also doesn't retain things she learns as well as she did before the stroke, her mother says.

Alyx suffered the stroke without warning on Feb. 9, 1998, when she was home from school for Lincoln's birthday and the family was cleaning the house.

Her mother had just asked her to fetch the vacuum cleaner, and Alyx responded that her head and eye hurt, her mother recalled. Thinking it was just a typical childish complaint to get out of work, her mother told her again to get the vacuum.

A few minutes later, Alyx followed her older brother, who was carrying the vacuum, back into the room.

``She said, `I don't feel good.' She dropped,'' Lena Torres said.

Alyx screamed in pain, drooling, and the left side of her face seemed to be paralyzed. Her parents drove her to the clinic at Edwards Air Force Base, where she was stabilized, then transferred to Antelope Valley Hospital.

Alyx spent a week at Antelope Valley Hospital, then 7 1/2 weeks at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Alyx had suffered central nervous system vasculitis - an overactive immune system caused the blood vessels in the front right lobe of her brain to swell shut, Lena Torres said.

It took six weeks for her to learn to walk again, Lena Torres said. She went through CT scans, chemotherapy, angiograms, spinal taps and physical therapy. Some of the treatment was painful. Alyx became depressed by her condition.

``She said, Mommy, it hurts,'' Lena Torres recalled. ``I had a child who almost died telling me she hated me.''

Alyx kept at her schoolwork while she was in the hospital. Back at school, she was provided with speech therapy and adaptive physical education. Teachers tutored her on their own time.

``The school has been unbelievable,'' Lena Torres said. ``Everything she needs, she has gotten.''

Things haven't gone as well with classmates. Some children still tease her or refuse to let her play jump-rope or tag.

Lena Torres said she has been impressed with her daughter's courage through the ordeal.

``She had something very horrific happen to her and she survived. She's trying to turn it around.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Alyx Torres, 10, is the American Heart Association ambassador for the Antelope Valley Heart Walk. She gets a hug from Bonnie Shook, Keppel Union School district nurse.

(2) Alyx Torres has recovered much of her health since her stroke 2 1/2 years ago. She hopes to raise $10,000 for the American Heart Association in its upcoming benefit walk.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer