I Heart You

To most, Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love, eat chocolates and send and receive flowers. To us, Valentine’s Day marks Congentigal Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Day! Since I don’t have too many outlets to make my voice heard, I decided to use my new blog soapbox to help raise awareness.

Like most people, our family was unaware of the following facts until they became a reality in our lives:

• Congenital heart defects are the number one birth defect

• Approximately 40,000 babies are born each year in the United States with a CHD. That equates to 1 out of 125 babies born with a heart defect.

• Heart defects begin in the early stages of pregnancy when the baby’s heart is first forming.

• The cause of CHD’s have not yet been determined though scientists feel genetics and environmental factors play a role.

• There are approximately 35 different types of congenital heart defects.

• In the last 25 years, advances in treatment of heart defects have enabled half a million U.S. children with significant heart defects to survive into adulthood.

Zachary’s CHD was Transposition of the Great Arteries. In sum, his aorta and pulmonary artery were reversed and connected to the wrong part of the heart, thus disallowing the blood to get oxygenated properly and sent to the rest of his body. He underwent an Arterial Switch operation at 2 days old, which literally cut the arteries and re-attached them to where they should be.

When we first learned of Zachary’s heart defect (which was found at my 5 month ultrasound), we were obviously devastated. So many people prayed for him even before he was born. Though the day of his surgery was by far the most difficult day of my life, I still felt a sense of peace in the midst of it. I’m including a picture of how we saw him right after his surgery. I don’t want anyone to forget what he went through and what a miracle he truly is.

As you all know, he is certainly thriving like a champ! He will still require yearly checkups, but for now he is “fixed”. The particular surgery he had is relatively new in the past 30 years, so the long term success of the surgery is not yet known. For now, we will enjoy him, and he will enjoy the chance he has at life.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Hopefully you will think of Zachary every year at this time, and thank God for the blessing he is to our family.