Our lives forever changed on March 29, 2023. At our 20 week anatomy scan, we found out our precious daughter has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). The left side of her heart is so small, it doesn't work.
My daughter, Lauren the Lionheart, is the strongest, bravest girl I know. She has had 2 open heart surgeries at 3 and 100 days old. The Norwood and the Glenn are the life-saving (palliative) surgeries that allow her to be here today. The next surgery, the Fontan, is the last intervention right now for kids with HLHS. After that, we just hope that all goes well for as long as possible before a heart transplant is required.
These 3 surgeries are still relatively new, so there's a good possibility that something new comes along to push off the transplant even longer or make it possible to live a full life with half a heart. Research funded by CHF is what gives me hope that we'll have many many more years with our roarin' Lauren.
The Children's Heart Foundation was founded in 1996 and is the country's leading organization solely dedicated to funding congenital heart defect (CHD) research.
Our mission is to advance the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of congenital heart defects by funding the most promising research.