We’ve always known hearts to be associated with Valentines Day, but until we had a CHD warrior of our own, we never knew “CHD Awareness” week existed, let alone “Heart Month.” Watching CHD advocates from around the globe flooding social media with CHD facts and statistics, stories of their warriors, and doing everything within their means to raise awareness of congenital heart disease was incredible and inspiring!
But now that February is over…now what? What will we, as a CHD community, do to continue to raise awareness of CHD?
We’ve been very impressed with the things that some of our fellow community members are doing to raise CHD awareness, and wanted to share a few inspiring things that are happening!
- If you haven’t yet heard of Chris O’Connell, you likely will soon! Chris is an ACHD survivor, who also happens to have a son with a CHD. On March 6th and 7th, Chris will be in Los Angeles competing on American Ninja Warrior, representing Heart Warriors everywhere! You can check out some of his training videos and more about Chris and his story on his Instagram page @heart_warrior_oc!
- One of the biggest ACHD advocates we know is Crystal Flores, another adult congenital heart disease survivor who is paying it forward and visiting CHD patients at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. In addition to giving hope to patients and parents there, Crystal has been handing out adorable heart pillows and other items to comfort them during some of the most difficult days of their lives! Way to go Crystal! You can follow her story on Instagram @chd_hearts
- With nearly 28k Instagram followers and an active blog, Cortney Given is one of the biggest HLHS (hypoplastic left heart syndrome) advocates we know! Her posts dealing with the ups and downs of having a child with HLHS are truly inspiring, at times heartbreaking, and always full of hope and gratitude! You can follow her journey at @cortneyeats on Instagram or on their blog giventoday.net!
These types of efforts are exactly what we as members of the CHD community need to continue. As we’ve said before, we know that the louder we are, the more we'll be heard, and the more we are heard, the more will be done to prevent and treat CHD.
These are just some of the many things we’ve seen people doing to continue to raise awareness of congenital heart disease. What will you be doing? Feel free to drop a comment below!