• February Heart Hero – Elijah Vermillion

    A 20 week ultrasound showed a possible heart defect which was confirmed by a pediatric cardiologist at 28 weeks.  Our little man, Elijah, would be born with an interrupted aortic arch, a VSD, an ASD, and an irregular aortic valve.  He was born at 39 weeks and spent a week in the NICU before his […]

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  • 2016 Superhero Heart Run Ambassador – Cooper Leeman

    Cooper was normal healthy 14 month old boy when we started to notice a change in his breathing. He was getting more winded with activity and grunting. After having him evaluated by his pediatrician and originally thinking it was a viral illness the pieces started to not fit. They did an echo, EKG, and blood […]

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  • July Heart Hero – Cayden McGhee

    Our heart journey began when I was about 22 weeks pregnant at a routine ultrasound that showed some abnormalities with our baby’s heart and diaphragm. We were crushed. We knew we wanted to give our baby a chance and the cardiologist we were working with was on the phone getting grim chances with everyone he […]

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  • 2015 Superhero Heart Run Ambassador – Leah Flannery

      Leah Flannery, age 6 (7 on 9/22/15) Ames, Iowa written by her mom, Jodi Flannery Almost seven years ago, Leah was born with complex congenital heart disease that required immediate medical attention upon her first breath. At a routine ultrasound during our third pregnancy, a deathly low heart rate was discovered (70bpm). We were […]

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  • May Heart Hero – Sydnie Van De Kieft

    There is a scar that runs down the center of my daughter’s chest. It isn’t ugly, in-fact, it is quite beautiful. A Badge of Honor, inscribed in her chest, with a knife, as Sydnie grows older we will explain to her that the bible says; although the world is evil and passing away, there are […]

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  • March Heart Hero – Leilani Lahey

    Leilani was born a healthy 6 lb little girl. Little did we know that 5 months later, our lives would be turned upside down. Leilani started getting sick, and after a long week and a few doctor’s appointments, with her only getting worse, we took her to the ER. They did a chest x-ray and […]

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  • Help-A-Heart Video

    [yt4wp-video video_id=”gaZz3ywuKzI”] Many families have been touched by Help-A-Heart.  Check out our video that features the co-founders, Emily Graber and Melissa Hooper, and the reason they founded Help-A-Heart.  Our mission is to share love by providing emotional and financial support for Iowa families affected by congenital heart disease.

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  • Shop to Donate – Amazon Smile

    AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support Help-A-Heart every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to Help-A-Heart. […]

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  • February Heart Hero – Kellan Wallenburg

    Kellan Wallenburg is a 16-month-old ball of energy and is curious about everything. But he hasn’t always been that way. Kellan was born with a heart defect and damaged lungs. Watch his whole story on KCCI.

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