I am the proud mother of Mary Kate Marvin. She is an amazing little treasure that has made her family and community better just by being herself. The poet Walt Whitman penned the phrase, "So much sunshine to the square inch" and I think it sums up Mary Kate perfectly.

When Mary Kate was born, we were surprised to find out that she has Down Syndrome, but we were terrified to learn that she had multiple associated congenital heart defects. About half of babies born with Down Syndrome have some cardiovascular problems and Mary Kate needed two open heart surgeries at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis in order to grow into the happy and healthy six year old she is today. Today she attends preschool with her peers and loves going to ballet class, but 24 hours after she was born we were at the Children's Heart Clinic learning about her little heart with holes between the chambers and a broken valve that wasn't doing it's job. 

The picture I chose for my profile on this page is one of my favorites. It was taken the evening before Mary Kate's first open heart surgery at Children's. She was four months old, not even 9 pounds, struggling for breath and yet so full of sunshine that she practically glowed. Before Paul and I had to turn our Mary Kate over to the good doctors at Children's to fix her tiny heart, I never knew what it meant to HOPE, what it meant to PRAY, and certainly never knew GRATITUDE like I have for the people and the science that made it possible for us to keep our Mary Kate. 

Children's makes a difference for all kinds of kids and their families everyday.  Thanks for helping a great cause!