-
Dear Me Blog Series: Nate Forsythe
Dear Me: (Before Her After) Life goes on. Days become nights. Nights become days. Breakfast still consists of cereal or eggs or bacon for most. Of course, not for you; you were never a breakfast food for breakfast person. You preferred cold pizza; you still do. You blame your father for that preference. Dinners are […]
Continue reading -
Dear Me Blog Series: Erin Burton
Dear Me, Today you became a mom… not just an ordinary mom… a heart mom. Congratulations! I know that may sound like a strange thing to say when you are handed a baby boy and a diagnosis of a complex congenital heart defect all at the same time. You will feel fear and sadness by […]
Continue reading -
Dear Me Blog Series: Allison Meiners
Dear Me: February 17, 2014, changed you in more ways than you can fully comprehend. You’re scared. You’re scared to put up your unborn baby’s crib, you’re scared to write in your pregnancy journal, you’re scared to give birth to this baby, you’re scared because you just heard words you’re unfamiliar with, “your baby’s heart […]
Continue reading -
Dear Me Blog Series: Shannon Boyd
Dear me, You’re right, you’ll lose everything you think is important. Your dream job, your savings, your sanity. And all those things you’re worried about happening…strokes, oral aversions, g-tubes, learning disabilities—those will all happen, too. You are not being a pessimist; you’re preparing. There is nothing you can do to stop these things from happening, […]
Continue reading -
Dear Me Blog Series: Molly Audetat
Dear Me, As you sit in the waiting room after the anatomy scan thrilled that you will be welcoming a baby girl, you know in your heart that something is wrong. Your doctor will enter the room to go over the ultrasound results and again it’s clear something is wrong! Things will become blurry around […]
Continue reading -
Dear Me Blog Series: Blair Patterson
Dear Me: I woke up the other day and looked in the mirror too early. You know what I mean – when you look at your face before the morning fairies repair the damage the overnight goblins did to how you look? I kept looking, though, and I thought “Lady? You’ve aged about 10 years […]
Continue reading -
Dear Me Blog Series: Jen Huegel
Dear Me, I can still see you. Curled into a ball, swallowed by darkness in your living room on a perfectly sunny and beautiful fall day. Shades drawn, heart broken, unable to form words. I can still feel the fear, ripping through your whole body as you shook with sobs that filled the quiet room. […]
Continue reading -
Dear Me Blog Series: February CHD Awareness Month Campaign
Help-A-Heart is excited to feature the letters of several of our ‘heart’ parents during our February CHD (congenital heart disease) Awareness Month campaign. We asked our families to write a letter to themselves during the time they received the diagnosis and first began their journey in the heart world. Just a warning, these are […]
Continue reading -
January Heart Hero – Gabe Graber
We found out on September 11, 2004, that our unborn child had a congenital heart defect called Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome. Basically, this means that Gabe’s right ventricle never fully developed, so he only has 1 pumping chamber in his heart. This defect is corrected with a series of 3 open heart surgeries—one at birth, […]
Continue reading -
October Heart Hero – Aja Audetat
Our world changed forever March 26, 2015 when we first heard the words “Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.” During our 20-week anatomy scan we learned we were having a girl and that she would be born with a congenital heart defect. This is when Help-A-Heart entered our lives and helped in more ways than they’ll ever […]
Continue reading