Blog
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Peyton’s Parents Give Hope to CHD Community
April 25th, 2023 by Amy Basken
Posted in Bereavement, Featured Stories, Stories
In her 12 days of life, Peyton Rae Brean showed her parents, Lisa and Corey Brean, spunk, sass, love, and strength. Her personality radiated inside the NICU, and her parents cherished every moment spent inside those four walls. “I read somewhere once that ‘instead of teaching my daughter about the world, I would have to…
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Clark Ostrom
March 23rd, 2023 by Amy Basken
Posted in Featured Stories, Stories
Clark Ostrom was born in 2015 at just 36 weeks. His mom, Carissa Ostrom, said they had no idea he had a bicuspid Aortic Valve and Aortic Stenosi heart defect. He went through his first procedure and balloon valvuloplasty (a cath procedure where they take a balloon and rip open the valve). Carissa then connected…
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Eli Pingilley
February 21st, 2023 by Amy Basken
Posted in Featured Stories, Stories
In early November 2021, we went to our kids’ annual checkup appointments, and Eli had very elevated blood pressure. The nurses would not record it on his growth sheet. Instead, they sent in several nurses with several different blood pressure cuffs to check him. Praise God his pediatrician didn’t ignore this and let it go….
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Hudson Heyward
December 16th, 2021 by Jessica Chenevert
Posted in Featured Stories, Stories
Hudson was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and spent more than 176 days inpatient. Now home with his family, Hudson’s first Christmas is sure to be extra special. Read about his battle with HLHS and how beauty can be found even in terrible circumstances. Hudson was 9 days old when he was diagnosed with…
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Our Beautiful Boy – JT’s Story
August 24th, 2021 by Jessica Chenevert
Posted in Featured Stories, Guest Blogs, Stories
My husband, Michael, and I had been trying to have a baby for over three years (through gestational surrogacy), and after several failed attempts and a miscarriage, we finally made it to the second trimester! When Michael, Michelle (our surrogate), and I attended the 20-week anatomy scan, we were shocked to find out that our…
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Camila
February 23rd, 2021 by Jessica Chenevert
Posted in Featured Stories, Stories
Camila nació el 5 de octubre del 2018. Seis días antes de que naciera, fue diagnosticada con estenosis de la válvula pulmonar y comunicación interauricular. La noticia nos tomó a todos por sorpresa. En ese momento estábamos viviendo en California en el Área de la Bahía y cuando Camila nació fue inmediatamente transferida al hospital de niños Benioff en…
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The Foligno Family
February 19th, 2021 by Jessica Chenevert
Posted in Featured Stories, Guest Blogs, Stories
“We don’t look at the world with rose-colored glasses, but we are optimists through and through. We believe in turning obstacles into opportunity, that forward is a mindset, and that there are tools to help us at any place you find yourself on life’s journey.”
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Sydney Kim
November 14th, 2019 by Jessica Chenevert
Posted in Featured Stories
“Sydney has already overcome so many challenges in her young life. I used to worry so much about her future because of how sick she was as a little child. But seeing her now and how much she has grown, I feel that there is no limit to what Sydney can do or achieve. I will always be thankful to Conquering CHD for tirelessly advocating for those with CHD like Sydney.”
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Ryan Kirst
October 15th, 2019 by Jessica Chenevert
Posted in Featured Stories, Stories
February 3, 1999, our heart warrior was born. We were already blessed with a six-year-old daughter and we were excited to add a son to our family. It wasn’t until Ryan was born that we learned he had something seriously wrong with his heart. He was born blue and right away they knew something was…
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Grace
April 1st, 2019 by Jessica Chenevert
Posted in Featured Stories, Stories
Grace was born on March 7, 2017. At birth, to her parents heartbreak, she was diagnosed with complete atrioventricular canal defect (AVSD), as well as trisomy 21. She had open heart surgery on August 7, 2017 at just 5 months old. The first year of her life was hard on her family, especially the first…