Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week

This week before Valentine's Day has been designated as Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Week. Our Angeline was lost to a severe congenital heart defect. Like many babies who die from this devastating condition, Angeline's heart defect was not diagnosed prior to her death. Many babies are not diagnosed until they show signs of respiratory distress after delivery. It may be minutes, hours, or days until their condition is apparent. Some babies are actually discharged from the hospital with undiagnosed congenital heart defects, and in some cases, their parents experience the horror of unexpectedly losing their new baby at home. I had read Cora's story a number of months ago. Her mother and others are working to promote a very simple and completely painless newborn screening test: pulse oximetry.



Cora's story: http://www.corasstory.org/