Melissa Hooper – Melissa married to Jim, a mother to 4 wonderful children, and grandma to one little boy.  She became a heart mom in June 2005 when her 3rd son, Dylan, was born.  Dylan endured 3 open heart surgeries, a cardiac arrest, and many other procedures & hospitalizations.  After fighting CHD’s for 3 years, Dylan earned his angel wings on June 30, 2008.  Melissa has worked as a stylist at Shear Style Inc. in Ankeny for 22 years.  She lives in her hometown of Bondurant and Jim currently works for the National Guard.  We have been blessed to add to our provided services a bereavement group. Families of Heart Angels can now come together, support one another, and speak to others about their sweet Angel.
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Emily Graber – Emily lives in Prairie City with her husband, Darin, & her 5 amazing children—one of whom she is blessed to call her heart hero, Gabe.  Her kids range in age from 17 to 6 so she is constantly running them around to their activities & appointments.  Emily is a CPA & currently works at the Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church as their Senior Staff Accountant.  Darin works as a Regional Leader for Primerica Financial Services.  Her passion for Help-A-Heart obviously came from her own personal experience & she is so lucky that this organization has allowed her & Melissa to pay it forward & ease some of the financial burdens that an extended hospitalization can bring on a family.  Her favorite part of Help-A-Heart is all of the wonderful heart moms that she is now fortunate to call friends & the bonds that have formed through support group.
emily@help-a-heart.org
Help-A-Heart