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September Heart Hero – Carver Meiners
Carver was diagnosed with Transposition of the Great arteries during his 20-week ultrasound. We were quickly thrown into the “heart world” and realized what all this would mean for our son and family. Carver was born on June 26, 2014, and had an exploratory cath on June 27 to prepare him for his open-heart surgery. […]
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June Heart Hero – Kiran Aaron Valji
When I was 22 weeks pregnant, during a follow-up ultrasound, I got the news no expecting parent ever expects to hear: “There is something wrong with your baby’s heart.” The fear and grief of that moment overwhelmed me. I am so thankful his dad and I chose to not let the fear control us; we […]
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Heart Hero- Grace Diggins
Grace was born on May 5, 2008 with a severe case of Ebstein’s Anomaly and pulmonary atresia. Ebstein’s is a malformation of the tricuspid valve, and pulmonary atresia meant she was missing her pulmonary valve. She had her first open heart surgery at 10 days old, it consisted of an atrial septectomy, atrial free wall […]
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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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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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