What's This All About?
The mission of the Erika Kate Foundation is to help ease the emotional, spiritual and financial burdens borne by parents of children with life-threatening heart disease. We provide short-term assistance to families in the midst of medical crisis, working with social workers in pediatric heart centers nationwide to bridge the gap for those whose short-term needs exceed available resources.
Meet Erika Kate
She loved to swing in her backyard, and the colors pink and purple. She adored her sparkly pink flip-flops, the rock band U2 and goldfish crackers. Erika Kate never knew how sick she was. Read her story
Encouragement For Your Journey
Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves somthing and has lost something. -H. Jackson Brown Jr.For Social Workers
The Maynards traveled near and far in an effort to get Erika the best medical care available. She was diagnosed at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, received a second opinion and more advanced care at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and received a heart transplant at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. In the process, they observed these trends:
1. Numerous local and regional programs exist to help families of children with various health problems.
2. Compared to many disease processes, resources available to families of children with heart disease appeared to be lacking.
3. There was a need for a nation-wide umbrella organization to which families in the midst of a medical crisis can appeal for help in keeping up with some of the burdens related to their child’s condition.
The Erika Kate Foundation is our grassroots effort to help these families.
It’s a huge undertaking. We’ll need lots of help. We ask for your assistance and cooperation in bringing it to fruition. Here’s what you can do:
1. Provide us with your contact information in the form below so we can add your name and center to our database.
2. Help us with the development of a central database on resources for children with complex cardiac issues. Please forward the names and contact information of local, regional or national organizations you use to assist your families. Let us know the reasons you typically consult these resources, and the type of assistance they provide to your families.
3. Take full advantage of your available resources in helping cardiac families. Send us your referrals of families in need of additional assistance beyond what your local programs can serve. We’ll do our best to help them in a significant way.