CHD awareness week: my cause.

so, as you may (or may not) know, this week - the 7th to the 14th - is CHD awareness week.

chd = congenital heart defect.

chd = a heart defect present during baby development

chd = 100% UNcurable without medical intervention

chd = the #1 birth defect of babies born, yet receives some of the lowest $$ amount in research funding.

chd = a cause i'm extremely passionate about.

why?

read on.

since i was 5 years old, i've wanted to work as a pediatric nurse.

since i was in high school, i've wanted to specialize in pediatric cardiology.

at the time, i knew very little about CHDs. i knew what HLHS was. i knew other abnormalities could occur.

i had never known anyone personally with a CHD, so it was some what foreign to me.

but for reasons unbenounced to me at the time, it was still the speciality i was going to work in.

when i was first diagnosed with a tricky heart, i didn't think much of CHDs. i figured it was something i had developed as a young adult. so in my eyes, i became one of the young adult cardiac patient statistics.

repeat a few cardiac cath surgeries, and the depth of my "tricky heart" starts to get a little clearer.

yes, i was born with my heart as it is. it was something that was present at the earliest stage of development - when cardiac cells form a tube that essentially folds over itself into a heart, complete with 4 working chambers and an electrical system that would put the smartest IT developers to shame. (god sure is tricky.)

enter: mckmama

through blog stalking, i stumbled upon her blog and learned of her miracle boy, stellan. and i read about all the heart troubles he would be born with and fight like hell to survive from.

he was diagnosed in utero. they knew at an early ultrasound his little heart was working too hard and too fast. shortly after his first birthday he received a healing cardiac cath (yes, the same ones i've had) and so far, is healed.

so how does this story tie into CHD awareness week?

because. without the funding and research that has already been done, stellan might have grown up and struggled and fought to live. it could have been years before he was diagnosed - or more so - he could have been 20.

while electrical problems of the heart don't seem like they should be considered CHDs, by the very definition, they are.

so why am i so passionate about raising funds and awareness for congenital heart defects?

because as far as i'm concerned, i'm a CHD fighter. and i'm working and fighting to be able to say i'm a CHD survivor and i beat mine.

i know we're on the right road as far as gaining the awareness needed. in the 20 years between my birth and stellan's, look how far we've come.

so yeah, i'm pretty passionate (and compassionate) for CHDs. and as far as i'm concerned, i'm in the right.

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so how can you help?

easy!

1) donate blood.

every 3 seconds an infant living with a CHD needs a blood transfusion.

2) become an organ donor.

unfortunately, for most of these little warriors, a heart transplant is the only solution. many spend years on the waiting list, and sadly, many do not make it to see a heart become available for them.

3) spread the word.

so often we send email forwards, jokes, gossip, news articles, etc to friends, family, and coworkers. while a wildfire can start with a single spark, it needs certain things to keep it blazing. let's do our part to spread awareness about CHDs.