CHD Awareness Week

February 7th-14th is conginetal heart defect awareness week. In case you don't know conginetal means born with. And as many know the conginetal heart defect, CHD is what took the life of our precious Noah.

•Congenital Heart Defects are the #1 birth defect worldwide
•Congenital Heart Defects are the #1 cause of birth defect related deaths worldwide
•About 1 out of every 100 babies are born each year with some type of Congenital Heart Defect in the United States (approx. 40,000/year)
•Nearly twice as many children die from Congenital Heart Defects in the United States each year as from all forms of childhood cancers combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for Congenital Heart Defects
•Each year worldwide 100,000 babies (under one year old) will not live to celebrate their first birthday
•Each year in the United States approximately 4,000 babies (under one year old) will not live to celebrate their first birthday
•The cost for inpatient surgery to repair Congenital Heart Defects exceeds $2.2 billion a year
•Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding only a fraction of a penny is directed toward Congenital Heart Defect research
•The American Heart Association directs only $0.30 of every dollar donated toward research. The remainder goes toward administration, education and fundraising efforts. Of the $0.30 that goes toward research only $0.01 goes toward pediatric cardiology for CHD
•Though research is ongoing, at least 35 defects have now been identified
•Although some babies will be diagnosed during gestation or at birth, sometimes the diagnosis is not made until days, weeks, months, or even years after. In some cases, CHD is not detected until adolescence or adulthood
•It is a proven fact that the earlier CHD is detected and treated, it is more likely the affected child will survive and have less long term health complications

{source: itsmyheart.org}

If you know of anyone who is pregnant please encourage them to ask their hospital for a screening of their newborn called pulse oximeter - pulse ox. It's a simple non invasive test and it can save lives. It's a test that reads the baby's oxygen saturation. Sometimes heart defects go unnoticed and complications first arise when mom and baby are home and then it's usually too late.

I encourage everyone I know to please spread the word about CHD. Wear red! Remember all the angels that lost their fight against CHD, but also remember the sweet kids who are still fighting or living with a CHD.
Share some facts or share Noah's story with family/friends. Found under the label "angel Noah".

Thank you.