February- The Heart Month

No, not hearts as in Valentine's.....

 The month of February is dedicated to raising awareness about heart disease and increasing knowledge about prevention. Educate yourself on the dangers of heart disease and get on track to better heart health.

Did you know Heart Disease is the #1 killer of Women? Most would say Breast cancer....

One form of Heart disease that is near to my own heart is Children with CHD. A sweet friend of mine had an adorable baby girl a month before I had Avery. Emma looked like your typical blue eyed doll and was born perfectly healthy by the look of her, however she was born with a heart defect and succumbed to it at 5 months old. Her mother and father have been huge advocates for raising awareness in Children with CHD and helping spread the word to raise funding for more research to be done in the medical field.

Congenital Heart Disease

• Congenital Heart Defects are the #1 birth defect worldwide
• Congenital Heart Defects are the #1 cause of birth defect related deaths worldwide
• About 1 out of every 100 babies are born each year with some type of Congenital Heart Defect in the United States (approx. 40,000/year)
• Nearly twice as many children die from Congenital Heart Defects in the United States each year as from all forms of childhood cancers combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for Congenital Heart Defects
• Each year worldwide 100,000 babies (under one year old) will not live to celebrate their first birthday
• Each year in the United States approximately 4,000 babies (under one year old) will not live to celebrate their first birthday
• The cost for inpatient surgery to repair Congenital Heart Defects exceeds $2.2 billion a year
• Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding only a fraction of a penny is directed toward Congenital Heart Defect research
• The American Heart Association directs only $0.30 of every dollar donated toward research. The remainder goes toward administration, education and fundraising efforts. Of the $0.30 that goes toward research only $0.01 goes toward pediatric cardiology for CHD
• Though research is ongoing, at least 35 defects have now been identified
• Although some babies will be diagnosed during gestation or at birth, sometimes the diagnosis is not made until days, weeks, months, or even years after. In some cases, CHD is not detected until adolescence or adulthood
• It is a proven fact that the earlier CHD is detected and treated, it is more likely the affected child will survive and have less long term health complications

Today was National wear RED day in support of heart health. Did you wear red?

XOXO-
Britt the HLC