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IMH Monthly Spotlight |
We are so excited to be partnering with another wonderful non-profit organization, Spark of Life, for an upcoming retreat! Spark of Life's goal is to offer support and instill hope within the lives of those who have lost a loved one to a CHD. They offer Grief Recovery Retreats that seek to facilitate healing through group interaction, individual reflection time, and more. The retreats are located at Tanglewood Resort along Lake Texoma near Dallas, Texas. And since the organization receives its funding from private donations, the retreats are free to attendees (excluding transportation to and from the retreat).
The following is a testimony by Corrie Stassen-Melsom, Executive Director of IMH, Inc., describing her experiences at a previous Spark of Life retreat. If you are unaware of Corrie's "Heart Story," her son, Noah Paul Stassen (12/09/2003 - 05/26/2006), was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and underwent a heart transplant. Noah's cause of death was transplant coronary artery disease.
"In October 2011 I had the opportunity to attend a Spark of Life retreat. It had been 5 1/2 years since Noah's sudden death and I attended thinking it would be a learning experience I could check off my list of "been there, done that". I was overwhelmed by the amazing experience that provided me much more than expected. I discovered things about myself, I was taught tools that will continue to help me and my family throughout the rest of my life and I connected with others that shared similar experiences giving us all hope. There's no doubt this retreat has been a life changing experience and I was excited to learn Spark Of Life desired to partner with It's My Heart, Inc. and bring this opportunity to the CHD community. In a perfect world I would stop people and innocent children from dying because of CHD, but reality is, that's impossible. Instead our hope is for all families out there missing children (no matter what age of death) will take advantage of this amazing and wonderful gift."
It's My Heart has reserved upcoming retreats for May 31st - June 3rd and August 2nd - 5th, and if you are interested in attending or would like more information in general about this opportunity please email info@itsmyheart.org or call 713-334-4244. To learn more about this wonderful organization please visit the Spark of Life website.
We look forward to this experience, and if you have suffered the loss of a child, we hope you can join us for support and healing.
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"Keep the Beat" CHD Walks | |
Throughout each year, IMH chapters across the country host and participate in "Keep the Beat" CHD walks with the goal of bringing awareness to CHDs and raising funds for the CHD community. For specific walk details and registration or donation information, please click on the chapter walk links below...
Dallas/Ft. Worth Chapter This is the 2nd Annual KTB walk for the DFW chapter and it will be held on Sat, May 5th. New England Chapter This will be the 2nd Annual KTB walk for the New England chapter. The walk will be on Sunday, July 1st. |
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Sharing our Heart Journeys | 
We invite you to share your personal Heart Journey story with our CHD community! They are featured on our IMH CHD Blog. If you'd like to have yours featured, please include the following in your story: your (or your child's) diagnosis (how and when), your treatment plan, and an update on how you (or your child) is doing now. Please send a picture to go with your story and submit it to info@chdblog.org.
The following is an excerpt from a recent Heart Journey story submission...
"Liam was born in February of 2011 and diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. His precious life has been filled with hospitals, doctors, tests, and surgeries. At 5 months old he was given a heart transplant in Little Rock, Arkansas, but then developed more complications. Currently, Liam is in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the family is trying to see what a team of doctors in Houston can do to help."
To read the rest of Liam's story or to see all that our blog has to offer, please visit our CHD blog. |
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CHD in the News | | Women with heart disease likely to have girls: Iran study
Tehran, April 22 - Women with some heart disease are more likely to give birth to girls, says a study conducted by a university in Iran. It found that 75 percent of the 216 children born to 200 pregnant women with diagnosed heart diseases were girls.
"We believe that this is the first study looking at the relationship between gender and the mother's cardiac disease," A. Alizadehasl of Tabriz University said in a statement.
"We hope that this will lead to further investigation into this area."
Sixty-four percent of the pregnant women in the study group were diagnosed with valvular disease (involving one or more of the heart valves), 19 percent had dilated cardiomyopathy (heart unable to pump blood efficiently) while 14 percent had uncorrected or significant residual congenital heart disease (defect in the heart's structure and great vessels present at birth).
"This is a very interesting observation," said Kathryn Taubert, chief science officer, World Heart Federation. "The chromosomes in a man's sperm are responsible for the sex of a baby but this study suggests that there may be a relationship between the health status of the mother and the sex of the babies she is able to carry to full-term. As the number of women with heart disease is increasing around the world, this could prove to be an interesting area for further research."
The findings were presented at the World Heart Federation's World Congress of Cardiology in Dubai recently.
Source: http://india.nydailynews.com/business/6118c79b9f49b39e16979b4b04738281/women-with-heart-disease-likely-to-have-girls-iran-study
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May CHD Birthdays
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Happy Birthday to...
 | | Andre Ouimette ~ Turning 4 on May 1st |
 | | Elisa Hudek ~ Born May 5, 1989 ~ TOF and has had 3 open heart surgeries |
 | | Belen Evans ~ Born on May 11th ~ Survivor of heart surgery |
 | | Chase ~ Born on May 12, 2004 ~ TOF with Pulmonary Atresia |
 | | Fabian Ismael Dorado ~ Turning 3 on May 17th ~ HLHS |
 | | Samuel Deternoz ~ Born on May 24th, 2011 |
 | | George M. Grunert ~ Born May 26, 2008 |
 | | Emma Grace Schwerdtfeger ~ Born May 27, 2008 ~ Repaired ASD/VSD; Complete ECD |
If your child has a June birthday and you'd like it to be included here next month, please submit a picture, name, and birthdate to newsletter@itsmyheart.org by May 20th.
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