Valentines Day/CHD Awareness

We are so grateful this year to be celebrating Valentines Day as a family and we are also grateful to be part of CHD awareness week. Many of you may be wondering what CHD is.....well CHD stands for Congenital Heart Defects. This week is the national Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week and I would like to let you know some facts and statistics about CHD.

• According to the March of Dimes, congenital heart defects are the #1 birth defect. It is estimated that 40,000 babies with Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are born in the United States each year. To put CHD it in a better statistics: about 10,830 babies are born each day and out of those babies about 411 are born with some sort of birth defect. Out of those 411, about 87 are born with CHD. Isn't that crazy? I never knew this before I became a heart mommy!

• Sometimes during early pregnancy, a baby's heart fails to form properly, resulting in structural abnormalities known as Congenital Heart Defects. Although some defects are genetic, in many cases the cause is unknown.

• More than 1 million American children and adults with Congenital Heart Defects and Childhood Onset Heart Disease are alive today.

• CHD is the most frequently occurring birth defect, and is the leading cause of birth-defect related deaths.

• Although some babies will be diagnosed at birth, sometimes the diagnosis is not made until days, weeks, months, or even years after. In some cases, CHDs are not detected until adolescence or adulthood.

• Some CHDs may not require treatment other than periodic visits to a Pediatric Cardiologist. Others can be treated with medications or repaired with surgery and/or procedures. Complex defects may require several surgeries and are never really "cured."

• Many cases of sudden cardiac death in young athletes are caused by undiagnosed CHDs and Childhood Onset Heart Disease.

• It is estimated that more adults than children are living with congenital heart disease, and this population is expected to grow by 5% each year. Yet, many adults with CHD are not receiving adequate ongoing care from trained specialists.

*Beckham's heart defect is so rare that I could not find statistics on the number of babies born each year with Mitral Valve and Tricuspid Valve Stenosis.

This "heart" of our Valentines Day this year is focusing on the precious gift of Beckham's new heart. My good friend Crystal (and Nate's cousin) whose son Noah received a transplant a month before Beckham left me a comment once and it made me think. These are her words once she saw Noah's old heart:
"Here was the heart that had grown inside me and was suppose to be keeping my baby alive and now it's sitting on a table, the heart that nearly killed him.... How am I supposed to feel? Then I imagined the new heart beating inside him. The one another mother created and gave to my son. The one that is now keeping him alive. The price that was paid...."
I sometimes sit and feel Beck's heartbeat and marvel at the fact that Beckham grew in me, but his heart did not. It grew in another mother, a mother that lost her sweet baby. There is no words to express my gratitude toward that mother. I am actually playing with Beckham as I am writing this and he is smiling and laughing. I am so grateful that he is still with us, that he has a second chance at life, that he is able to sit and smile and laugh. We love him so much.

Children die each day from CHDs and while waiting for a heart transplant. I know that donation is a hard concept to think about but the one thing I do know about organ donation is that it is something that you never really think too much about until you are in a situation where that is the only option to save a life. Lets hope that this never has to be your option. If you would like to know more about CHDs or organ donations or make a monetary donation please click on the below links.

CHD
Organ donation

Happy Valentines Day!
-Kim, Nate, Gwen, and the "heart" of our family Beckham