Joshua had a very serious and very rare Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. To read more about CHD's please click here. To read more about Joshua's heart click here.
CHD's need funding. Plain and simple. CHD's are one of of the only defects that the baby doesn't look sick. When Joshua was born, he sure didn't look sick! He was a beautiful chunky baby.
But, obviously from out story, CHD can be deadly.
Without further funding and research babies, like Joshua, will continue to die or need life long medical care. Parents will continue to hear those life changing words "I'm sorry, but there seems to be a problem with your baby's heart." Without funding and research, children, like my children (Caleb, 4, Hannah, 2), will know too soon the reality of life and death.
I have a few ways for you to get involved.
First of all, I have a blog reader who contacted me late last week. Her daughter is doing Jump Rope for Heart TODAY! She told her daughter all about Joshua and his special heart and her daughter is jumping for Joshua.
Because the jump is today, her daughter, Ava, will be collecting money for the American Heart Association who gives a portion of their donations to CHD funding and research.
If you are interested in donating to the AHA through Ava, please send me an email ASAP at jillhaskins1@yahoo.com. I will give you the information you need to donate directly to her.No donation is to small or too big. Our family is sending a check in the mail today to support Ava and her quest to help sick babies!
Thanks so much Ava!!!
The next opportunity to help is also a fun one! My friend, Kristine, is participating in a March for Babies in Indianapolis. Her daughter, Cora, passed away at 5 days old from an undetected CHD. Since Cora's death, Kristine has been working hard to make sure no parents should ever have to go through what they went through. She has been doing an amazing job of spreading CHD awareness.
The March for Babies will be held on April 30 in Indianapolis. I am committing to walking on Team CHD in memory and in honor of Joshua. If you are in the Indianapolis area and would like to join Team CHD, we would love to have you. The bigger presence we have, the better! Even if you are just a silent reader of my blog and have never posted a comment or don't know anyone who has been personally affected by CHD, but you want to be involved, please either check out Kristine's post for more details, or send me an email at jillhaskins1@yahoo.com! We would love to have you on our team to help raise funding and awareness to save babies!
Together, we can save babies! Will you consider helping?
1 comment:
Hosting a 1in100 Event on Sat, Feb 12. In honor of our 1in100, Eve Saarinen - and in recognition of CHD Awareness Week nationwide. The more people know, the more they can do. Thanks for sharing - and for all you do. Annamarie
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