Did You Know...

When we sat in our pediatrician's office when Abby was 5 days old and he said, "I hear a little something...." Grant looked at me and said, "Is this like what Marlowe had?" Grant went to college with Marlowe's parents and she had her heart surgery a few years ago. Her parents started informing all of us about CHDs and I was surprised by many of the facts that they shared. I thought I'd share some of the "awareness" with you. For instance, did you know...

-- Congenital Heart Defects are the #1 birth defect and the #1 cause of infant death related to birth defects.

--1 out of every 100-150 babies born will have a CHD. (1 out of every 800-1000 babies born has Downs Syndrome).

--In the US there are nearly twice as many deaths due to CHD than that of all forms of childhood cancers combined. Yet there is 5 times more research for pediatric cancer than for CHD.

--There are approximately 35 know Congenital Heart Defects.

--With advances in medicine, many of those born with CHD will have their first and sometimes only corrective surgery before age 2.

(Most facts are from the American Heart Association and March of Dimes)

So, thank you Larry & Debbie for preparing us before we knew we needed to be prepared for this. It's good to know that Abby isn't going down this road alone and it's true that the surgeons really did make us feel that they do this surgery all the time.