February is heart month
While all of February is Heart Month, the week of February 7-14 is Congenital Heart Defects Week.
As couples around the world celebrate their romances, the parents of children born with congenital heart defect celebrate their children’s survival and lives.
Congenital heart defects are the Number One killer of children under one year old, and one out of every 100 kids is born with a congenital heart defect.
Sandra Hanson, who is the mother of a child with a CHD, belonged to a group called Heart Moms….Mothers of children with Congenital Heart Defects.
Sandra began compiling the individual stories, as told by the mothers themselves, of their journeys with their kids who were literally born with broken hearts.
She gathered stories from mothers in New Brunswick, whose children were being treated at IWK, and from moms downstate, whose kids were being treated at American hospitals.
These stories were published as a book titled “Born With a Broken Heart.”
These are remarkable tales of courage and survival that will touch your heart and truly make you appreciate life.
Crystal O’Neil of Perth-Andover is the mother of three year old Hanna, who was born with an extremely rare congenital heat defect called a right coronary artery fistula.
Hanna was 6 weeks old before her problem was diagnosed. She ended up at IWK in Halifax, where she was the first child ever to be operated on at IWK to correct this defect.
Her story is included in this book, and in honour of CHD Week Crystal visited the Guardian Drug Store in Plaster Rock to sign and promote the book “Born With a Broken Heart.”
Crystal knew instinctively that something was wrong with her baby soon after she was born, but the doctors kept telling her that it was all in her imagination as nothing showed up in Hanna’s blood work or tests. It was not until she was 6 weeks old and became gravely ill that her heart defect was discovered.
There is now a simple and non-invasive test that can be given to new-borns for congenital heart problems that all new parents should know about and request called the “Pulse Oximetry Test.” This simple test puts a meter on the baby’s finger and measures oxygen levels. Simple, easy, and it causes no discomfort to the infant.
“Born With a Broken Heart” is for sale at the Guardian Drug Store in Plaster Rock for $25 per copy/ All proceeds go to the IWK and the Children’s Heart Foundation in the US to help kids born with broken hearts.
You may also order the book online from www.blurb.ca
Stephanie Kelley
