Spreading Awareness!

It is that time of year again. The time of year when heart moms from all over the world blow up facebook and the web with posts about Congenital Heart Defects. It is Heart Month and this week (February 7 thru 14) is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness week.

I plan on doing a longer post with details about our recent trip to Cincinnati but today I wanted to focus on CHD Awareness. To hold you over until then I will let you know that Jacob's tests went great. His airway looks good, he won't need another scope until after his Fontan (Last planned open heart surgery) this summer. His hearing test went great and showed his hearing is 100% NORMAL!

JUMP ROPE for HEART

This year Aidan is participating in Jump Rope for Heart. It is a fundraiser his school is participating in that raises money for the American Heart Association. Aidan was so excited when he found out about the event, he told his class all about his brother's special heart. He told me he wanted to collect money to help babies like Jacob! I am so proud of Aidan, he is such a good big brother. Jacob gets a lot of attention because of his heart. I try to involve Aidan as much as I can but there is not much he can do. This fundraiser is so great for Aidan because it is a way that he can help a great cause that is so close to our hearts. He gets to make a difference and I want to make this a huge success for him.

I knew immediately that I wanted to help out at the school so I talked to his coach and asked if they needed any information about congenital heart defects. They didn't have any so I offered to create a video about CHDs for them to show the kids. Timing was perfect because I was trying to think of something I could do for CHD awareness week.

I created two versions of the video, one for Jump Rope for Heart and one to share online for CHD Awareness Week. I am really happy with how the video turned out. Every child in the video was born with a congenital heart defect, many were born with the same defect as Jacob. Each of these kids holds a special place in my heart and I am so grateful to their parents for allowing me to use their photos in the video. I am posting the videos below, please feel free to share them and help us spread awareness!

I am also going to go to the school on the day of the jump and help out at the event. I will take lots of pictures and post them on here after the jump. It will be at the end of this month. I plan on making Aidan a shirt with this design:

 

Looking for a way to contribute to CHD Awareness Week? Please help support Aidan by sponsoring him in his mission to help fight heart disease. Make a tax deductible donation in honor of Jacob by clicking on the link below. Online donations can be made until February 21st. Thank you!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

CHD AWARENESS

 CHD AWARENESS- JUMP ROPE FOR HEART VERSION




Happy Heart Week! Please feel free to share this video and continue to spread awareness for all of the children fighting this battle and for those who were taken from this earth way too soon!