Washington, DC Heart Walk

On November 14, 2009, I will freeze my butt off in our nation's capital, as I walk around the National Mall (aka where all the monuments are, for those of you unfamiliar with DC) to raise money for the American Heart Association.  This is a cause near and dear to my heart (quite literally) as it benefits children and adults of all ages.  I am trying to raise $500 to benefit the AHA, and would appreciate all the help I can get. 

Please join me in this effort by either donating or walking me (I would love the company).  Click here to sign up and walk yourself visit.  Click here if you would like to donate to the American Heart Association. 

Thank you in advance to helping fight this disease, spread awareness, and educating people of all ages about heart disease and stroke.

Baby from India born with his heart outside of chest

Medical technology is AMAZING, and not just what they can do here in the United States.  For those of you who refresh news websites as often as I do, then you may have already heard about the baby boy born in a remote village in India with his heart outside his chest.  By the next day this newborn and his father had made a 1100 km (about 683 miles) journey to a hospital in New Delhi for an operation to contain the heart within the a space between the chest and abdomen as well as remove the infection the little baby suffered during the journey.

Read the stories at: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/03/india.dangling.heart/index.html and http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/02/india.heart/index.html and read the father's story at... http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/01/india.heart.father/index.html.

This is quite an interesting story, and isn't the first time this has happened.  In 2006, doctors in Florida did a similar operation.

Welcome

I've known about my heart condition from the beginning, and I always explained it very matter of factly as: "I was born with a congenital heart disease known as Pulmonary Atresia and I've had three open heart surgeries." What I've only recently understood is the impact that my own story might have on others. I've never met any children with CHD - other than in the hospital recovering from surgery - (surprising, I know) or anyone my age (I'm 24) who was born with a congenital heart defect. I know there are people out there, I've read the stories, seen the pictures, understood the facts and through all of that I've realized the greatest thing of all - I'm one of the lucky ones. If you take away my open heart surgeries I'm a healthy 24 year old woman holding a Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree and a full time job which I happen to enjoy. I've never really been that sick, although I've seen my fair share of hospitals and emergencies rooms. I see a cardiologist once a year for my EKG, echo and anything else he (or on occasion she) deems necessary, but in reality my chronic illness is manageable, make that VERY manageable. I credit this to some fantastic pediatric cardiologists and surgeons, medical science and research, my family and friends for getting me through the tougher times, and LUCK... a whole lot of luck.


Since my pulmonary valve replacement (rather insertion in my case - I lived without one from the ages of 1-13) in 1999, I have yet to have any major medical mishaps (knock on wood). I should also mention my current doctors and their staff for taking the time year after year to answer my questions and give me the best advice they can regarding the current state of my condition as well as what may or may not occur in the future.
So there you have it - the brief history of my own story. From now on this blog will be used for discussion of CHD, the stories of others, medical research, and my own personal opinion about it. If you have anything you'd like for me to discuss please let me know, I'm always willing to share my opinion - but keep in mind it will be biased and it will have some bearing on my own experiences with my heart condition and other heartache I've endured.