HELPING HEARTS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

Description

The primary purpose of the Helping Hearts Foundation is to raise awareness, unite and empower families dealing with Congenial Heart Defects (CHD’s) through various channels, including the generosity from donors and to fund research. Being the most common birth defect, 1 in 100 babies are born with a congenital heart defect, meaning there is one or more abnormalities of the heart present before birth. CHD’s contribute to more infant deaths in the first year of life than any other cause (30% according to the American Heart Association). The abnormalities can be located anywhere within the structure of the heart, or even the arteries and veins surrounding the heart, and can range from relatively harmless to life-threatening. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25% of CHD’s are considered critical and surgery and other procedures must be done in the first year of life. Most of these defects are impossible to pinpoint the root cause. Some are presumably genetic, while others could be attributed to drug use or an infection during pregnancy.