“Congenital heart defects are America's #1 birth defect. Nearly one of every 85 babies is born with a CHD in the US.
Congenital heart defects are the Number 1 cause of birth defect related deaths.
This year almost 40,000 babies will be born with a congenital heart defect in the US. 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.
Only one penny of every dollar donated to the American Heart Association goes towards congenital heart defect research.
Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding only a fraction of a penny is directed toward congenital heart defect 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.”
I have seen and continue to see that despite the facts above, not many people know about CHD. This is why I created a petition for more CHD Awarness in the Media. We need to get the word out on these defects. If you go to my Myspace Page :
www.myspace.com/angelinasfriends
you will find a banner that by clicking on it, will take you to the petition. We would appreciate many signatures
I especially want to talk to Mommies To be about CHD Awareness and Education. Many parents did not know anything about Congenital Heart Defects until the baby was born and was diagnosed. Why not ?
Because there are no routine check ups for Heart Defects other than the common one at 20 weeks. Ultrasounds are not being done to only check for a heart defect but for the overall “growth” of the baby. If there are no other concerns for a doctor, the chance is that no other will be done.
Please urge your doctor to Screen Screen Screen !! Tell them to specifially look for a Heart Defect. Tell them about CHD being the Number 1 birth defect in the US !! With this fact I don’t think that they will have to say anything against that.
It is your child and it is you who wants to be sure that everything is alright. Your doctor has to respect your wishes for more screening !
I have put some links together for great Awareness Pages for CHD :
http://www.chloeduyckmemorial.com
http://www.hope4tinyhearts.com
http://www.itsmyheart.org
http://www.tchin.org
http://www.savinglittlehearts.org
http://www.childrensheartfoundation.org/
http://www.babyheart.org/
http://www.congenitalheartdefects.com/
http://www.chdinfo.com/
http://www.chdfamilies.org/
http://www.chdawareness.org/
http://www.childrensheartlink.org
http://www.childrenheartinstitute.org/
http://www.littlehearts.org
http://www.babyheartspress.com
http://www.RoccosHeart.org
Please always feel free to write me in case you have any questions. My email address is :
Seraphim.books@yahoo.de
Many blessings to you
Sandra Kay
