Saturday, February 16, 2013

Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Lunch

On Tuesday, February 12, we went to Vanderbilt for a Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Luncheon.  There were kids with CHDs and their families, 2 adults with CHDs, doctors, nurses, and other staff.  We were all very happy with the big turnout!  It is so nice to be surrounded by a room full of people that all know how it feels to be on this CHD journey.  I'm looking forward to the hospital getting a CHD family support group back up and running after not having one for over a year. It will be so helpful to everyone affected by CHDs!




Chik-fil-a catered the event and did an amazing job!  Who doesn't love Chik-fil-a?




Chasity brought heart picture frames for the kids to paint, which was a big hit!  Colby painted two and wanted to do a third one.  He loves to paint and color! 







Catherine worked really hard on getting a proclamation signed by the Governor declaring the week of February 7-14 Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Week in the state of Tennessee.  As moms to heart kids, we are always trying to find ways to spread awareness of congenital heart defects.  Our hope is that with awareness comes funding for more research, and with more research comes better "fixes" or maybe even a cure for our kids!!  Erin, an adult living with Tricuspid Atresia and a real inspiration to us, read and presented the proclamation to Dr. Doyle.


We were very excited to have Jennifer Johnson from News Channel 4 at the event.  She interviewed Catherine about  CHD Awareness and Suha about Nadia's journey.  Having Fox 17 cover our Blood Drive and Bake Sale Saturday and share Colby and Cain's stories and then Channel 4 cover this event on Tuesday with Nadia's story was amazing! We are so thankful and happy to have made small steps toward increasing awareness of congenital heart defects!



We love Dr. Doyle and Dr. Israel!!  We have been blessed with the most amazing group of cardiologists at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.  We will never take for granted how lucky we are to have this amazing facility so close to where we live!



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