Conquering CHD Community: A Lifeline for Parents Ryan and Jillian
Who do you turn to when you find out your happy and seemingly healthy two-month-old needs heart surgery?
At our two-month well visit, my wife Jillian and I were stunned to hear our daughter Beckett needed to see a pediatric cardiologist. They’d found a heart murmur, and we soon learned Beckett was born with a Complete AV Canal Defect.
Finding out our child has a congenital heart defect instantly turned our world upside down.
The most comforting thing to Jillian and me during that extremely difficult time was the community of amazing CHD parents and organizations, including Conquering CHD.
Immediately upon discovering Conquering CHD, it felt like we had a partner on our journey. Conquering CHD provided so much important information after diagnosis — everything from knowing what questions to ask to choosing where we should get care.
At just four months old, Beckett had open heart surgery at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. After she was brought up from surgery, there was a Conquering CHD care kit waiting in her room when we arrived — a sign that we were not alone in our journey with our daughter.
We now have a happy, healthy, and very active two-year-old, and we feel so fortunate that Conquering CHD is working to help kids like Becket every day. Their national advocacy leads to the support and research so desperately needed to save these kids’ lives, and to accompany families on what is otherwise a stressful and lonely medical journey.
We’re so grateful, in fact, that we decided to express our thanks by hosting a Super Bowl Squares raffle in early 2023. In Beckett’s honor, we were able to raise $2,000 to support Conquering CHD’s work in our community.