- Target:
- Public
- Region:
- United Kingdom
- Website:
- www.hlhs-awareness-uk.com
Half a heart doesn't have to mean half a life!
My son was born in 2007 with a condition called Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (meaning born with only half a developed heart) a rare form of congenital heart defect and one of the most complex.
There is no known cause for this heart condition and unfortunately no known cure only palliative surgery to prolong the babies lives till their late teens the future is unknown but who knows in ten years scientists think they may be able to grow whole hearts in a lab from stem cell research? I live in hope......
The norwood procedure is a 3 stage open heart surgery in which the babies need very early in their lives in order to survive, some don't make it past the first surgery and those that make all three are very lucky indeed.
The first stage.
This operation involves connecting the origin of the pulmonary artery to the aorta to allow the right ventricle to pump blood to the main circulation,also it allows the pulmonary artery to make the aorta larger.
Second stage.
This involves the superior vena cava (the vain that brings blood back from the upper parts of the body)and is connected to the pulmonary artery.
Third stage.
This is to create a permanent passage (septectomy) between collecting chambers (left and right atrium) ensuring that a mix of red (oxygenated) blood and blue (deoxygenated) blood is flowing around the body.
Those are the heart wrenching facts you can visit my website for more information at www.hlhs-awareness-uk.com
If we can get enough signatures before the deadline I will be sending them to Ten downing street, I am praying there will be more media awareness on our TV screens as there is simply not enough yet and so many people don't know anything or have not heard about HLHS, there are around 20,000 children born with HLHS every year around the world and every year this figure goes up and up WHY? We will never know until there's more awareness = research = answers.
So please sign and help me in my plight!!
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Awareness for half a heart babies petition to Public was written by Kerry and is in the category Health at GoPetition.