It's Valentine's Day!

Elijah,

Thank you so much for the pretty Valentine's Day card! You are a smart boy. Very creative, too!



V-Day is a very meaningful day. Every year, it is the day chosen to promote awareness of congenital heart defects. This is something we plan to always celebrate and be a part of because we want the absolute best for you and the special heart that God gave to you. V-Day is also important because it is six days before your birthday and anything that is within a week of your birthday is automatically significant. Another reason V-Day is important is because it's a good chance to give extra love and hugs to the people you love. You just wait. I'm going to hug you and Daddy to pieces tonight!

Happy Valentine's Day, my chunky monkey.

Love, Mama


p.s. Some CHD statistics (from Children's Heart Foundation website):

Congenital heart defects are America's #1 birth defect. Nearly one of every 100 babies is born with a CHD.

Congenital heart defects are the #1 cause of birth defect related deaths.

This year almost 40,000 babies will be born with a congenital heart defect. 4,000 of them will not live to see their first birthday.

91,000 life years are lost each year in this country due to congenital heart defects.

The cost for inpatient surgery to repair congenital heart defects exceeds $2.2 billion a year.

Congenital heart defects occur frequently and are often life threatening, yet research into them is grossly under funded.

In the last decade death rates for congenital heart defects have declined by almost 30% due to advances made through research.

More than 50% of all children born with a congenital heart defect will require at least one invasive surgery in their lifetime.

There are 35 different types of congenital heart defects. Little is known about the cause of most them. There is not yet a cure for any of them.

In the U.S., twice as many children die from congenital heart defects each year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD.