Every day around 350,000 babies come into the world.
In the United States, about 1 in 33 babies will be born with a birth defect each year.
And about 1 in every 100 babies will be born with a "special heart", or a congenital heart defect.
My cousin Greta is one of those babies with a special heart.
Everyone has at some point made the comment, "he/she has the biggest heart", and in Greta's case, her heart actually is much bigger than it should be. A normal, healthy babies heart is about the size of their fist, but Greta's is much larger. Greta is 8 months old and was born with Atrial Septal Defect and Ventricular Septal Defect, two holes in her heart that force her heart to work harder than it should have too. Since her heart is forced to work so hard, she has to eat through a feeding tube.
The American Heart Association has a campaign known as, "Jump Rope for Heart" that teaches kids about their hearts and how to keep them healthy while also raising money to help fund research. As a society, we tend to forget that it isn't just adults or our grandparents that get different heart diseases. That it isn't just adults and our grandparents that have "special hearts". But that every day there are newborn babies born with special hearts, and other times, people's hearts develop problems that were unforeseen and they need our help to get better.
We need to start teaching our kids when they're young how to eat better, exercise daily and how to keep their hearts growing strong so we do not have to see more of our loved ones facing these struggles. I also think it is very important to teach those around us how important it is to help those in need, whether we have the ability to donate, or we focus on raising awareness. No deed is ever too small, and every dollar and every word helps.
I hope this article gave you all an insight into what families around the world are facing every day. There are so many people out there who have special hearts, so I urge you to keep these families in your hearts in the fight for a cure.
If you would like to help families like the Kiley's, here is where you can donate!
