Families We've Helped
 |
Isla Galliart, of La Grange, IL, is a playful, 11-month-old girl, who on an typical day, can be found happily standing or crawling around her home while playing with toys or listening to stories.
At first glance, the presence of her nasogastric tube may be the only indicator that Isla’s life has been more complicated than that of most other babies.
|
 |
Twin girls! Four year old Zach and his parents, Liz and James, were ready to welcome two baby girls into their family. When Missy and Tori were born, the doctor’s realized that Missy had an irregular heartbeat. Now, 9 years later, Missy has just started 4th grade with her twin sister, but it has been a difficult and unexpected journey for her whole family. |
 |
Erica Carela and her husband Frank Drayton of Watchung, NJ, have learned to appreciate the simple things in life, like breathing air or watching their children play. However, they never expected to learn the lessons through the life-threatening illness of their youngest son, Jerric. |
 |
Heather and Wade Morgan from Katy, TX, were expecting a bit of a challenge with the arrival of their second child. Doctors had informed them of a hole in the infant’s heart while he was still in utero. It posed a problem that could be dealt with, so the couple anticipated their baby’s arrival with both joy and apprehension. |
 |
Alex and Jenny Hamm from Butte, Montana, and their son Gavin, were thrilled with the arrival of Luella Ann Marie (Lulu) back in May 2010, but only moments after her birth it became apparent that Lulu's young, fragile life was in danger. |
 |
I got my first taste of mother’s intuition on November 25, 2009; it was the day of my 20 week ultrasound. The ultrasound is one of those exciting milestones of pregnancy along with hearing your child’s heart beat for the first time and feeling your baby move. |
 |
Little Michael Evan Moreno is trying to get used to being at home.
Diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome at two days of age, Michael Moreno has spent many of his first 700 days here on Planet Earth hospitalized and recovering from two open heart surgeries, multiple catheterizations and other procedures at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. |
 |
Nessa Jayne Gorham, a “miracle baby”, was born on May 5, 2005, after a complicated pregnancy and delivery. There were multiple close calls with her little life en utero, but in the first days after her birth, everything seemed to be returning to normal and her new parents, Nathan and Maegan, anxiously waited to take their precious bundle home. |
 |
One hot July afternoon in 2009, Kaylyn was visiting her father in Seattle. While at the pool, she collapsed, showing symptoms of a heat stroke. Kaylyn, always an energetic and healthy girl, was airlifted to Children’s Hospital of Seattle and resuscitated twice because of cardiac arrest. |
 |
Mark was born in September 2002 in Ohio. Soon after, doctors determined there was a severe problem with his heart. With a lesion on one of his heart valves, Mark had a balloon procedure at 5 days old as a temporary fix. Open heart surgery followed again at 5 months old and 4 years old. |
 |
Sydney, of Jackson, Mississippi, was born with a condition called Williams Syndrome. The neurodevelopmental disorder usually brings heart troubles with it. In Sydney’s case, it meant part of her aorta was narrowed, making it hard for her heart to pump blood through the artery and to the rest of her body.
|
 |
Four open-heart surgeries followed after Wyatt's birth, all done clear across the country in Boston, hundreds and hundreds of miles away from his small hometown in Idaho. Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, first detected at his 20-week ultrasound, meant his life was filled with doctors and hospitals. |