Category: Mended Little Hearts Blog
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Let Them Say, He Lived a Life!
Recently, I had one of the most wonderful medical professionals I know, a Nurse Practitioner who literally saved my sons life, tell me something that has transformed the way I think about my familys journey with a congenital heart defect (CHD). She described a young man who passed away in his early 20s whose…
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Medicaid Covered More Than Half the Costs to Save My Sons Life
My son, Angus, was born with a congenital heart defect (CHD) that was repaired shortly after his birth. Approximately40,000 babies, 1 in 110, are born with CHD each year. We learned about his heart defect at my 20-week pregnancy check-up and were immediately referred out to a pediatric cardiologist. It was devastating. I never…
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What I Need as a Fontan Parent: From Diagnosis to the Future
We were asked what we needed in the past, what we need now and what we need for the future as a Fontan parent. Here is our response. Upon diagnosis, I needed: Medical professionals to understand that my brain entered fight-or-flight mode the second I heard something was wrong with my babys heart. I needed…
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Why Is CHD Awareness So Important?
On the first day of CHD Awareness Week, I have been thinking about what CHD Awareness means why is it so important?To answer that, I think I have to go back to that very first day when I heard that there was something wrong with my babys heart. You see, I read What to…
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Brothers Bear Each Others Burdens
Every photo in the #RockYourScar photo contest has a story behind it. When the Heartbeat team saw Alessandro Peraless photo, which includes a smaller photo of him and a fellow superhero in the upper right-hand corner, we had to know more. The second hero in the photo is Sebastian, Alessandros twin brother. The boys…