Our Hlhs Journey With Cameron Chase: DO YOU KNOW YOUR CHD FACTS?

Today Is one of those days, where I find myself not doing much of anything. I am constantly watching Cameron. Tonight we go to the City of Belle Plaines monthly meeting,
And Tonight the Belle Plaine mayor will be signing a proclamation making this week CHD Awareness week.
I'm pretty sure I will have a tear or two in my eyes as he gives me a copy of the proclamation. My family doesn't understand the importance of a proclamation making Feb 7th-14th CHD Awareness Week. My husband & I try to explain it to them, but honestly if you aren't living a CHD life then you probably won't understand.

To Me CHD Awareness week means just that spreading awareness about the importance of Congenital Heart Defects. If we spread enough awareness just maybe someday there will be enough funds to help with CONgenital Heart Defect Research. Someday we could have some answers as to what causes CHDs or breakthrough technology.
Every year it seems like they come up with some new technique to help our kids and their special hearts. Someday they will be able to grow a heart from stem cells (that's what one of the Cardiologist told us at one of Cameron's appointments) And then maybe a baby or child will be able to have a heart transplant without waiting so long for one and then they will get a transplant before it's to late.
But without CHD Awareness none of this will be possible.

Another reason CHD AWARENESS is important is because, before I had Cameron i never thought about the possibilty of having a baby with a heart defect. I didn't think it would happen to us,but it did.
Cameron is now 1 in 100! And now we are on a new journey in life, we are now a heart family!
If we didn't know anything about heart defects in newborns, then I am pretty positive that other first time or even other parents who already have healthy kids don't know about congenital heart defects.

So many times I have had people comeup to me and ask if We are hoping for a boy or girl, I would always reply.. "it doesn't matter to us as long as it has 10 fingers & 10 toes" never once did I think or say it doesn't matter as long as the baby has a whole functioning heart, and i'm pretty sure that other people have said the same thing about as long as it has 10 fingers/10 toes.
So YES we need to get CHD awareness out their to expecting parents! As soon as I hear about one of my friends or family members expecting, I nicely tell them about Congenital Heart Defects and some of the facts.
Sometimes the expecting parents are happy to listen other times they think I'm trying to scare them, I'm never trying to scare them..I just want them to have their eyes open...don't worry about the little things and have your mind open to the fact that Anyone can give birth to a baby with a heart defect.
Doesn't matter if your white, black, Purple with dots... IT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE!!!

Here are some CONGENITAL HEART DEFECT FACTS:

♥ Congenital Heart Defects are the #1 birth defect (Source: March of Dimes)
♥ Congenital Heart Defects are the #1 cause of birth defect related deaths (Source: March of Dimes)
♥ About 1 out of every 100 babies are born each year with some type of CHD (approx 40,000/year) (Source: Children's heart Foundation)
♥ Nearly twice as many chilren die from Congenital Heart Defects in the USA each year as from all forms of childhood cancers combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is 5 times higher then funding for CHD. (Source: Children's Heart Foundation)
♥ This year approx 4,000 babies will not live to see their first birthday because of Congenital Heart Defects (source: Children's Heart Foundation)
♥ The cost of inpatient surgery to repair CHDs exceeds over $2.2 billion a year (Source: Children's Heart Foundation)
♥ Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding ONLY a fraction of a penny is directed towards Congenital Heart Defect research (Source: Children's Heart Foundation)
♥Though research is ongoing, at least 35 Heart defects have now been identified.
♥ 4-8% born with CHD have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
♥ 4-10% born withCHD Have Atrioventriclar Septal Defects
♥ 8-11% born with CHD have Coarctation of the Aorta
♥ 9-14% born with CHD have Tetralogy of Fallot
♥10-11% born with CHD have Transposition of the great Arteries
♥14-16% born with CHD have Ventricu;ar Septal Defects
♥ Although some babies will be diagnosed during gestation or at birth, sometimes the diagnosos is not made until days, weeks, monthd or even years after. In some cases, CHD is not detected until adolescence or adulthood. (Source: March of Dimes)
♥ 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: March of Dimes)

Cameron is the reason I feel the need to help raise awareness to such a ugly CHD...