CHD Awareness Week 2012

This week (February 7-14) is Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) Awareness Week

I am a proud {and relatively new} heart mom, and will devote my blog post's this week to facts, stories and information about life with a CHD.

Quick Facts:

**Congenital heart defects are problems with the heart’s structure that are present at birth.

**CHD is the most common type of birth defect in the United States, affecting 1 in 100 births.

**Congenital heart defects are the leading cause of birth-defect related deaths in the world.

**Approximately 25% of children born with a CHD will need heart surgery or other interventions to survive.

**Surgery is often not a cure for CHDs. Many individuals with CHDs require additional operation(s) and/or medications as adults.

**A baby’s risk of having a CHD is increased by 3 times if the mother, father, or sibling has a CHD.

**Despite the fact that CHD affects approximately 1.8 millions families in the U.S., a relatively small amount of funding is currently available for parent/patient educational services, research, and support.

**For more information on CHD visit this site.