By sharing experiences and providing information, we hope to raise public awareness about conditions that affect approximately 40,000 babies each year in the United States alone. It is our sincere hope that efforts to educate the public will result in improved early diagnosis, additional funding for support and educational services, scientific research, and access to quality of care for our children and adults.
This year skip the chocolates and make Valentine's day truly special. Help me help children around the world with heart disease. Having two sweet young girls born with congenital heart disease (CHD) that required open heart surgery prior to 3 months old has a profound affect on me. For one, going through this experience - twice - has caused me to focus much more on the present day. Also, as I sat by my younger daughter Kellyn's bedside as she recovered from surgery this October, I couldn't help but be struck by how fortunate I felt. Yes - fortunate. As horrific as the diagnosis, high risk birth and surgery had been, we still were very fortunate in that we knew about this issue and had an opportunity for surgery. We had the opportunity in part because of the fact that my girls were born in this country. Many children born with CHD do not have that opportunity. I wanted to help provide that opportunity to a family who's child born with CHD.
I came across an organization, the International Children's Heart Foundation (ICHF), that specializes in providing those opportunities to children overseas. This fantastic organization works all around the world - India, Peru, Russia, Pakistan, and many other countries - providing surgeries to families on long waiting lists. They typically spend 2 weeks in a given country and perform about 20 surgeries per trip. They estimate it costs about $2,000 per child to perform a surgery. Speaking from personal experience this is a fraction of what it costs stateside. I quickly decided to shoot for raising $2K to sponsor a surgery. This effort is real and its big time - a life saving surgery!
I decided that my first effort to raise funds for ICHF would be a run. Specifically in 2011 I would run the New York City Half Marathon and ask my friends and family to financially support this effort. Why the NYC Half? Its high profile, early in the year and a distance that I couldn't churn out today, but have the time to train for.
I'd like you to consider supporting me (and my girls Kellyn, Evie and Ruth) in this effort. Perhaps you would be willing to contribute to this effort or organize a fundraiser? I've established a secure website through active.com to coordinate this effort - http://www.active.com/donate/doyle_run_4_hearts - you may make a donation anonymously or contact me directly should you prefer an offline contribution. Help us do this in honor of my girls (The Mighty Warrior Women), a family overseas anxious for a chance, for yourself, for your Valentine! Heck - drop me a line and I'll even write a personal Valentine to your special someone telling them how much you rock for supporting this effort.
The race is coming up quick (March 20th) so your consideration in the approaching months is most appreciated. Let's give it a shot and see if we can sponsor a surgery! Thank you for your time and consideration.
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