Dearest Heart Friends, but especial Heart Dads:
Baby Hearts Press, LLC would like to extend a very Happy Fathers' Day greeting to all of you! You heart dads are amazing and we really appreciate everything you do for your heart children, your family and friends.
In honor of fathers everywhere, but especially in our congenital heart community, The Heart of a Father will be half price for the entire month of June on the http://www.babyheartspress.com website. This is a book written by 50 men affected by congenital heart defects and is the companion to The Heart of a Mother which has over 60 stories by mothers affected by congenital heart defects from around the world.
For those of you who have read The Heart of a Mother and who may have wondered whatever happened to the amazing children in the book, you should get a copy of The Heart of a Father. Many of the men who wrote for The Heart of a Father are fathers to the children depicted in The Heart of a Mother. The Heart of a Father book was published 10 years later so many of the success stories in the fathers' book have their roots in the mothers' book.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Guest Blog by: Lisa Schaffer
Dear Friends:
In honor of Mothers' Day, I invited a Heart Mom to prepare a guest blog for Baby Hearts Press. We are very blessed that Lisa Schaffer was willing to share her story with us. Please take a moment to enjoy her blog site as well!
Anna
It was early 2006 and I was standing in the pediatric specialty clinic lobby in front of a large display rack of cardiology brochures and pamphlets. I saw information about a variety of heart defects including pulmonary stenosis, septal defects, and transposition of the great arteries-all of which affected my newborn son in some form. Our new pediatric cardiologist walked by, paused, then turned and looked me in the eye. “You will not find anything on that rack that is even close to what you are dealing with,” he said solemnly as he patted my shoulder.
In honor of Mothers' Day, I invited a Heart Mom to prepare a guest blog for Baby Hearts Press. We are very blessed that Lisa Schaffer was willing to share her story with us. Please take a moment to enjoy her blog site as well!
Anna
My Story
By: Lisa Schaffer
It was early 2006 and I was standing in the pediatric specialty clinic lobby in front of a large display rack of cardiology brochures and pamphlets. I saw information about a variety of heart defects including pulmonary stenosis, septal defects, and transposition of the great arteries-all of which affected my newborn son in some form. Our new pediatric cardiologist walked by, paused, then turned and looked me in the eye. “You will not find anything on that rack that is even close to what you are dealing with,” he said solemnly as he patted my shoulder.
My search
had actually started months before my son was born and consisted mostly of
snippets of information I had pieced together. That’s how I eventually learned about Anna Jaworski; I found
her website. I’m not sure exactly
when I connected Anna, Baby Hearts Press and CongenitalHeartDefects.com. I
think that happened much later when Facebook became such a huge CHD support
source. I remember
CongenitalHeartDefects.com as one of the websites I used to learn about a
variety of heart defects, along with additional resources to further my
education. Eventually, I found
other mothers like me, mothers searching for information about complex CHD.
Seven
years later, I feel well-equipped in my knowledge of CHDs. No, I don’t claim to know it all and I
certainly do not understand the complicated balance my son’s cardiologist must
maintain in order to keep my son’s heart in working order. But, I know enough to ask the right
questions and to educate myself, thanks to those who were passionate enough
about CHD (like Anna) to devote their time and energy to create websites and
support forums, and to write books that further CHD awareness.
My name
is Lisa. My blog is called, “All
That and a Box of Rocks.” It is
about … everything -- my crazy, happy life. As
complicated as it sounds, it is a very happy life.
I write about life with six kids (five living). Among them I have one
with Autism, one with Asthma, one heart warrior with Autism, one heart angel,
and three almost normal teens/young adults. (I kid…what the heck is normal, anyway??)
I am one
of the few mothers you will ever meet with two complex heart kids—it just does
not happen that often. My boys were born thirteen years apart with variations
of TGA and hypoplasia. Even though
doctors tell us two cases of TGA variant is definitely genetic, our testing
reveals nothing out of the norm.
Twenty years ago, I barely had a chance to understand CHD-the Internet
at home was rare, limited to the rich and famous, and my son died when he was
only nine weeks old. He never left
the hospital. When I walked
through the hospital exit that last time, I shut the door on CHD…or so I
thought. I never expected to
relive CHD.
I started
my blog in 2006 for a variety of reasons: family, memory preservation,
homeschooling, faith, life…and it has evolved over the years to become a
virtual mind dump. Sometimes I
blog a lot and sometimes I do not.
My goal is to become more consistent. I am planning to start a couple of regular series: Living with CHD-Moments of Life as a
Heart Mom and Living
with Autism-Moments of Life as an Autism Mom. I think we learn so much when we
share our deepest thoughts and real-life experiences.
If you
feel led to wade through the pieces of my life I dare to share, please join me
at http://lisaschaffer.blogspot.com where I will be keeping it real,
one blog post at a time.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Happy Mothers' Day!
Dear Heart Friends, but especially you Heart Moms and Grandmas:
Happy Mothers' Day!!!
In honor of women everywhere, for the rest of the month Baby Hearts Press will sell The Heart of a Mother for half price -- both the print version and the ebook version. Have you ever wondered how a mom feels when she finds out she is pregnant with a baby whose heart isn't perfect? How do military moms deal with having a child with a life-threatening heart defect? What about grandmothers? How are they affected?
Answers to those questions and many more are in the book The Heart of a Mother. With over 60 contributors from around the world, there will be stories to touch everyone's heart. The amazing thing about this book is that it clearly demonstrates how we heart moms have so much more in common than we do differences despite living in different locations with different cultures and sometimes even different languages. The way we heart moms feel and even many of our experiences are so similar it's almost eerie.
Some books portray the ugly side of raising a child with a heart defect but The Heart of a Mother is an inspiring book that uplifts even as it educates people about the #1 birth defect -- congenital heart defects. The book covers everything from finding out in utero that a baby will be born with a heart defect to actually losing a child due to a serious heart defect and everything in between. But what makes The Heart of a Mother special is the fact that all of these mothers, regardless of their educational level, background or culture are dignified women who tackle their challenges head on as they become fierce advocates for their children and themselves. The Heart of a Mother puts words on experiences that many women find difficult to describe. The Heart of a Mother unifies a worldwide community within the borders of its pages and helps women and men everywhere know they aren't alone.
I hope you will share the information about the special with everyone you know. This book is a gift that will last a lifetime. It's a gift that will be treasured. It's a gift that will help the reader to appreciate her own experiences and show her how to be a better advocate for herself and her child. This book could very well change a person's life. Go to http://www.babyheartspress.com to order this book and others by Baby Hearts Press.
Happy Mothers' Day again, dear friends. I hope your day was as beautiful as mine.
Sincerely,
Anna Marie Jaworski
mom to Joey (21; heart healthy) and Alex (18; DILV, single ventricle)
Children's Heart Foundation-Texas Chapter Vice President
Owner of Baby Hearts Press
www.babyheartspress.com
www.congenitalheartdefects.com
Author of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: A Handbook for Parents and My Brother Needs an Operation
Editor of The Heart of a Mother, The Heart of a Father and Hypoplastic Hearts Through the Years (in progress)
Happy Mothers' Day!!!
In honor of women everywhere, for the rest of the month Baby Hearts Press will sell The Heart of a Mother for half price -- both the print version and the ebook version. Have you ever wondered how a mom feels when she finds out she is pregnant with a baby whose heart isn't perfect? How do military moms deal with having a child with a life-threatening heart defect? What about grandmothers? How are they affected?
Answers to those questions and many more are in the book The Heart of a Mother. With over 60 contributors from around the world, there will be stories to touch everyone's heart. The amazing thing about this book is that it clearly demonstrates how we heart moms have so much more in common than we do differences despite living in different locations with different cultures and sometimes even different languages. The way we heart moms feel and even many of our experiences are so similar it's almost eerie.
Some books portray the ugly side of raising a child with a heart defect but The Heart of a Mother is an inspiring book that uplifts even as it educates people about the #1 birth defect -- congenital heart defects. The book covers everything from finding out in utero that a baby will be born with a heart defect to actually losing a child due to a serious heart defect and everything in between. But what makes The Heart of a Mother special is the fact that all of these mothers, regardless of their educational level, background or culture are dignified women who tackle their challenges head on as they become fierce advocates for their children and themselves. The Heart of a Mother puts words on experiences that many women find difficult to describe. The Heart of a Mother unifies a worldwide community within the borders of its pages and helps women and men everywhere know they aren't alone.
I hope you will share the information about the special with everyone you know. This book is a gift that will last a lifetime. It's a gift that will be treasured. It's a gift that will help the reader to appreciate her own experiences and show her how to be a better advocate for herself and her child. This book could very well change a person's life. Go to http://www.babyheartspress.com to order this book and others by Baby Hearts Press.
Happy Mothers' Day again, dear friends. I hope your day was as beautiful as mine.
Sincerely,
Anna Marie Jaworski
mom to Joey (21; heart healthy) and Alex (18; DILV, single ventricle)
Children's Heart Foundation-Texas Chapter Vice President
Owner of Baby Hearts Press
www.babyheartspress.com
www.congenitalheartdefects.com
Author of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: A Handbook for Parents and My Brother Needs an Operation
Editor of The Heart of a Mother, The Heart of a Father and Hypoplastic Hearts Through the Years (in progress)
Monday, May 6, 2013
House Bill 740
Dear Heart Friends:
Tomorrow is an important day for the heart community in Texas. Many of us have been hard at work in Texas to bring to the attention of legislators that ALL babies born in Texas should have a simple pulse oximetry test before leaving the hospital to ensure that the baby's oxygen saturation level is where it should be. While this simple, inexpensive, non-invasive and easy-to-administer test will not detect all heart defects, it can at least alert the medical staff that something could be amiss in an otherwise healthy-looking infant.
Even though my husband thought something was wrong with Alex the moment he was born, he was told that Alex simply had newborn breathing. Even though, for 8 weeks, I continued to be concerned about Alex's sleepiness and the fact that he couldn't stay awake while nursing and never awoke crying and wanting to be fed, I was told by lactation consultants, nurses and doctors not to compare Alex to my firstborn, Joey and that he was "petite" just like I was. Even though I gave my August-born baby a sunbath after every daytime feeding and I was concerned about his jaundice, I was told that he just had "breastmilk jaundice" after they measured his bilirubin and he wasn't yellow enough to be put under the bili lights.
One simple test, pulse oximetry, would have told us what nothing else did. My son's oxygen saturation levels were in the 80s. This meant he wasn't really blue to the untrained eye but since most babies have an oxygen saturation level of 99-100, clearly something was wrong!
Had Alex been given this simple, non-invasive test when he was a newborn, red flags would have gone up and an x-ray would have revealed a smaller-than-usual heart. An ultrasound of the heart would have revealed that Alex had a number of congenital heart defects. A catheterization would have shown that Alex needed open-heart surgery.
Alex never would have gone into congestive heart failure. My husband and I wouldn't have been treated like over-protective parents. We wouldn't have spent 8 weeks wondering why Alex was so hard to feed and why he wasn't gaining any weight.
I remember that shortly after Alex had his open-heart surgery and we were home again there was another employee who worked with my husband who had a baby. Sadly that baby died in its sleep. I couldn't help but wonder if that baby also had a heart defect -- which might have been picked up with pulse oximetry. We'll never know. Instead, the mother was told the baby died of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Passing House Bill 740 could mean catching a potentially fatal heart defect so one less infant dies.
We were lucky that Alex had a good outcome despite the missed diagnosis during his well-baby check-ups and visits to Newborn Follow-Up and with lactation consultants. Not all babies are so lucky. If this bill saves just one baby's life, it will be worth all the letters that we in the heart community have sent to our legislators to pass bills like this one. Bills like this one have been passed in other states already. My hope is that someday babies will receive pulse oximetry as standard care before leaving the hospital no matter where they are born.
If you have a minute, please write to our Texas Senators to let them know how important this bill is to you. It will be voted on TOMORROW!
Here is the contact information for John Coryn: www.cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactForm
and here is the contact information for Ted Cruz: www.cruz.senate.gov/contact.cfm
I intend to write to both of them again and plead with them to pass HB 740. HB 740 was referred to the Senate and the Health and Human Services Committee. The hearing starts at 9:00 a.m., so this item will be taken up sometime after 9:00 am. It should be live on video as this committee is meeting on the Senate floor.
Tomorrow is an important day for the heart community in Texas. Many of us have been hard at work in Texas to bring to the attention of legislators that ALL babies born in Texas should have a simple pulse oximetry test before leaving the hospital to ensure that the baby's oxygen saturation level is where it should be. While this simple, inexpensive, non-invasive and easy-to-administer test will not detect all heart defects, it can at least alert the medical staff that something could be amiss in an otherwise healthy-looking infant.
Even though my husband thought something was wrong with Alex the moment he was born, he was told that Alex simply had newborn breathing. Even though, for 8 weeks, I continued to be concerned about Alex's sleepiness and the fact that he couldn't stay awake while nursing and never awoke crying and wanting to be fed, I was told by lactation consultants, nurses and doctors not to compare Alex to my firstborn, Joey and that he was "petite" just like I was. Even though I gave my August-born baby a sunbath after every daytime feeding and I was concerned about his jaundice, I was told that he just had "breastmilk jaundice" after they measured his bilirubin and he wasn't yellow enough to be put under the bili lights.
One simple test, pulse oximetry, would have told us what nothing else did. My son's oxygen saturation levels were in the 80s. This meant he wasn't really blue to the untrained eye but since most babies have an oxygen saturation level of 99-100, clearly something was wrong!
Had Alex been given this simple, non-invasive test when he was a newborn, red flags would have gone up and an x-ray would have revealed a smaller-than-usual heart. An ultrasound of the heart would have revealed that Alex had a number of congenital heart defects. A catheterization would have shown that Alex needed open-heart surgery.
Alex never would have gone into congestive heart failure. My husband and I wouldn't have been treated like over-protective parents. We wouldn't have spent 8 weeks wondering why Alex was so hard to feed and why he wasn't gaining any weight.
I remember that shortly after Alex had his open-heart surgery and we were home again there was another employee who worked with my husband who had a baby. Sadly that baby died in its sleep. I couldn't help but wonder if that baby also had a heart defect -- which might have been picked up with pulse oximetry. We'll never know. Instead, the mother was told the baby died of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Passing House Bill 740 could mean catching a potentially fatal heart defect so one less infant dies.
We were lucky that Alex had a good outcome despite the missed diagnosis during his well-baby check-ups and visits to Newborn Follow-Up and with lactation consultants. Not all babies are so lucky. If this bill saves just one baby's life, it will be worth all the letters that we in the heart community have sent to our legislators to pass bills like this one. Bills like this one have been passed in other states already. My hope is that someday babies will receive pulse oximetry as standard care before leaving the hospital no matter where they are born.
If you have a minute, please write to our Texas Senators to let them know how important this bill is to you. It will be voted on TOMORROW!
Here is the contact information for John Coryn: www.cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=ContactForm
and here is the contact information for Ted Cruz: www.cruz.senate.gov/contact.cfm
I intend to write to both of them again and plead with them to pass HB 740. HB 740 was referred to the Senate and the Health and Human Services Committee. The hearing starts at 9:00 a.m., so this item will be taken up sometime after 9:00 am. It should be live on video as this committee is meeting on the Senate floor.
You can watch here:
If
it makes it through committee tomorrow, the next stop is the Senate floor.
If it passes the Senate then it becomes law (unless the Governor vetoes
the bill). We may need to write letters to Governor Rick Perry showing our support for the bill, but since his wife was a nurse, I'd like to think we wouldn't have to do that!
Special thanks to Ashley Forbes of the Children's Heart Foundation - Texas Chapter for keeping us informed on how this bill is progressing.
Anna Marie Jaworski
mom to Joey (21; heart healthy) and Alex (18; DILV, single ventricle)
Children's Heart Foundation-Texas Chapter Vice President
Owner of Baby Hearts Press
www.babyheartspress.com
www.congenitalheartdefects.com
Author of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: A Handbook for Parents and My Brother Needs an Operation
Editor of The Heart of a Mother, The Heart of a Father and Hypoplastic Hearts Through the Years (in progress)
mom to Joey (21; heart healthy) and Alex (18; DILV, single ventricle)
Children's Heart Foundation-Texas Chapter Vice President
Owner of Baby Hearts Press
www.babyheartspress.com
www.congenitalheartdefects.com
Author of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: A Handbook for Parents and My Brother Needs an Operation
Editor of The Heart of a Mother, The Heart of a Father and Hypoplastic Hearts Through the Years (in progress)
Friday, April 19, 2013
Baby Hearts Press' First Guest Blogger -- Katie Cataldo!
I first have to say how excited I am to be a guest blogger
this month for Baby Hearts Press!
•
Katie is also a blogger for Heart Waves.
You can read more by Katie here: http://www.heartwaves.org/congenital-heart-defect-information/?Author=Katie%20Cataldo
Well, let me introduce myself. I am Katie Lynn Cataldo and
18 years ago I was born with a congenital heart disease called Hypoplastic
Right Heart Syndrome. I had my
first heart surgery when I was 3 days old, which was the BT shunt. I had my Open Heart Surgery when I was
4 years old, a Glenn. My last
heart procedure was 8 years ago. I
have been so blessed to be a healthy HRHS patient.
I went 15 years not knowing any other CHD patients. I did go through a moment in my life
were I felt different and like no one knew how I felt as a kid. I was always so unique because no one
else had a big scar on their chest.
I would constantly get asked what happened to me and I have to say some
of their conclusions were pretty funny.
Finally, at the age of 15, I decided to learn more about my heart
condition. In finding out all
about my heart, I began to come in contact with other families and patients
with congenital heart disease. It’s crazy how a little social media network
like Twitter can get you connected to many other CHD patients. I went from knowing only myself born
with a heart defect, to finding out 1 out of 100 babies are born with a heart
defect, and it’s the number one birth defect in America.
Now I am excited to be doing so much in the CHD community
and working with Anna Jaworski for Baby Hearts Press. Three years ago if you would have told me I would be talking
to CHD families all over the world and helping organizations with awareness, I
would have laughed and said that was not the kind of thing I could do. But, here I am and looking forward to
do more.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Saving Lives and Giving Hope
Saving Children's Hearts
Recently I reviewed a book that talked about a non-profit organization called Save a Child's Heart http://www.saveachildsheart.org/. I thought the book (Sabrina: The Girl with a Hole in her Heart http://www.amazon.com/SABRINA-GIRL-WITH-HOLE-HEART/dp/0615478190/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365918364&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=sabrina+girl+with+broken+heart was very interesting and a concept I had heard of before and I was curious what other organizations there are available to help children with congenital heart defects. There's an excellent Q & A about Save A Child's Heart here: http://www.saveachildsheart.org/366-en/QuestionsAndAnswers.aspx This page discussed answers to questions regarding donations, how to get a child help, how people can volunteer and what opportunities there are for medical students. Save a Child's Heart is based in Israel.
The International Children's Heart Foundation http://babyheart.org/ is an organization with a mission identical to Save A Child's Heart. Both organizations believe in the sanctity of human life. Both feel that children, regardless of whether or not their parents can afford surgery, deserve a chance for life. Both organizations take care of children who otherwise would be overlooked, forgotten or simply neglected by their local medical community because their own neighborhood doesn't have the resources needed to care for a child with a congenital heart defect or because their parents can't afford the costly surgery necessary for the child to survive.
The ICHF has performed over 6000 surgeries since it began in 1993. While they know they can't save every child with a heart defect, they are doing what they can to save as many children as they can with the resources they have.
The last organization I will briefly discuss is the Take Heart Association Project http://www.thapkenya.org/.
This organization helps children in Keyna who were born with congenital heart defects. Thanks to the Take Heart Association Project 120 children have been able to return home to live healthy lives. They take care of the poorest children in their country and they do it because:
More than 10,000 babies are born in Kenya with a congenital heart defect each year. However, at this time, there is no dedicated congenital heart program in all of Africa. Lacking the access to modern medical care, many of these children die needlessly in their early childhood years.
Since 1992, THAP has sponsored 120 children to undergo heart surgery many from the poorest areas surrounding Nairobi, Kenya - to undergo successful heart surgery in Kenya, India, Italy and the United States.
THAP also assists the children by providing pre- & post-op diagnosis, medicine, accomodations and transportation for the children who travel to Nairobi from remote areas for medical treatment.
I find it touching that it was so easy for me to find three outstanding organizations with the same mission: Saving Children Born with Broken Hearts. All of these organization cater to families who cannot afford the expensive treatments needed to save children with complex congenital heart defects. All of these organizations seem blind to race, religion or political beliefs. Their sole concern is saving children who would otherwise be lost.
If you, or someone you know, would like to get involved in helping one of these organizations, please check out their websites. There are many opportunities to serve these organizations. While financial donations are always needed and appreciated, I found it refreshing that they also had other ways people could be part of the healing process.
Recently I reviewed a book that talked about a non-profit organization called Save a Child's Heart http://www.saveachildsheart.org/. I thought the book (Sabrina: The Girl with a Hole in her Heart http://www.amazon.com/SABRINA-GIRL-WITH-HOLE-HEART/dp/0615478190/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365918364&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=sabrina+girl+with+broken+heart was very interesting and a concept I had heard of before and I was curious what other organizations there are available to help children with congenital heart defects. There's an excellent Q & A about Save A Child's Heart here: http://www.saveachildsheart.org/366-en/QuestionsAndAnswers.aspx This page discussed answers to questions regarding donations, how to get a child help, how people can volunteer and what opportunities there are for medical students. Save a Child's Heart is based in Israel.
The International Children's Heart Foundation http://babyheart.org/ is an organization with a mission identical to Save A Child's Heart. Both organizations believe in the sanctity of human life. Both feel that children, regardless of whether or not their parents can afford surgery, deserve a chance for life. Both organizations take care of children who otherwise would be overlooked, forgotten or simply neglected by their local medical community because their own neighborhood doesn't have the resources needed to care for a child with a congenital heart defect or because their parents can't afford the costly surgery necessary for the child to survive.
The ICHF has performed over 6000 surgeries since it began in 1993. While they know they can't save every child with a heart defect, they are doing what they can to save as many children as they can with the resources they have.
The last organization I will briefly discuss is the Take Heart Association Project http://www.thapkenya.org/.
This organization helps children in Keyna who were born with congenital heart defects. Thanks to the Take Heart Association Project 120 children have been able to return home to live healthy lives. They take care of the poorest children in their country and they do it because:
More than 10,000 babies are born in Kenya with a congenital heart defect each year. However, at this time, there is no dedicated congenital heart program in all of Africa. Lacking the access to modern medical care, many of these children die needlessly in their early childhood years.
Since 1992, THAP has sponsored 120 children to undergo heart surgery many from the poorest areas surrounding Nairobi, Kenya - to undergo successful heart surgery in Kenya, India, Italy and the United States.
THAP also assists the children by providing pre- & post-op diagnosis, medicine, accomodations and transportation for the children who travel to Nairobi from remote areas for medical treatment.
I find it touching that it was so easy for me to find three outstanding organizations with the same mission: Saving Children Born with Broken Hearts. All of these organization cater to families who cannot afford the expensive treatments needed to save children with complex congenital heart defects. All of these organizations seem blind to race, religion or political beliefs. Their sole concern is saving children who would otherwise be lost.
If you, or someone you know, would like to get involved in helping one of these organizations, please check out their websites. There are many opportunities to serve these organizations. While financial donations are always needed and appreciated, I found it refreshing that they also had other ways people could be part of the healing process.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Showing Gratitude
How do you show gratitude? Do you send a card, make a phone call, buy a gift or surprise someone with something made especially by you?
After visiting with numerous people in Washington, D.C. for Advocacy Day with the Adult Congenital Heart Association and Mended Little Hearts I felt I had to do something special as a Thank You to the kind people who met with us and listened to our stories. I decided that the typical, Thank You note which I usually calligraphy by hand just wouldn't do. So instead I created very special Thank You notes thanks to Walgreens!
First I uploaded the photos we took at the event to my Walgreens account and then I came up with the following cards:
Since we didn't really get a chance to meet with Senator Cruz to talk, but just went for the Texas Tuesday Coffee (photo opportunity) I shared with him in my Thank You note what I wish I'd had time to talk to him about.
I was thankful that I had a chance to let Senator Cruz know why Joey and I had traveled all the way from Texas to Washington, D.C. I don't know if he'll ever see that card, but if he does, and he sees Joey or me again, he'll have a better idea of what we'll want to talk to him about!
This card was special because Joey took it so I put the photo of John Coryn's legislative assistant Wes Hambrick, Mary Adair and me on the outside:
I put the photo I took of Joey and Mr. Hambrick on the inside.
Luckily we also had a chance to meet with John Carter's legislative assistant, Taylor Gilliam. She was very sweet to us and all of us had a chance to talk to her about what we thought was important. The inside of her card was the same as the previous card.
The last Thank You card I made was to Amy Baskin at the ACHA. Thanks to Amy, I didn't have to call the legislators to schedule my own appointments. Thanks to Amy and the ACHA I had a chance to learn about how I could be a good advocate for our cause. I wanted Amy and the ACHA to know how much I appreciated what they did for Joey and me.
Here is the inside of the card:
It took a bit of time to create the cards but I hope they were appreciated by the people I sent them to. I sent copies to Mary and Joey, too, to remember our remarkable trip.
I would like to conclude with this quote I found:
"Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts." ~ Henri Federic Amiel
After visiting with numerous people in Washington, D.C. for Advocacy Day with the Adult Congenital Heart Association and Mended Little Hearts I felt I had to do something special as a Thank You to the kind people who met with us and listened to our stories. I decided that the typical, Thank You note which I usually calligraphy by hand just wouldn't do. So instead I created very special Thank You notes thanks to Walgreens!
First I uploaded the photos we took at the event to my Walgreens account and then I came up with the following cards:
Since we didn't really get a chance to meet with Senator Cruz to talk, but just went for the Texas Tuesday Coffee (photo opportunity) I shared with him in my Thank You note what I wish I'd had time to talk to him about.
I was thankful that I had a chance to let Senator Cruz know why Joey and I had traveled all the way from Texas to Washington, D.C. I don't know if he'll ever see that card, but if he does, and he sees Joey or me again, he'll have a better idea of what we'll want to talk to him about!
This card was special because Joey took it so I put the photo of John Coryn's legislative assistant Wes Hambrick, Mary Adair and me on the outside:
The last Thank You card I made was to Amy Baskin at the ACHA. Thanks to Amy, I didn't have to call the legislators to schedule my own appointments. Thanks to Amy and the ACHA I had a chance to learn about how I could be a good advocate for our cause. I wanted Amy and the ACHA to know how much I appreciated what they did for Joey and me.
It took a bit of time to create the cards but I hope they were appreciated by the people I sent them to. I sent copies to Mary and Joey, too, to remember our remarkable trip.
I would like to conclude with this quote I found:
"Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts." ~ Henri Federic Amiel
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