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MUM ON A MISSION! 
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Hi! My name is Kerry and I am mum to a very special young man called Tristan. Tristan has a congenital heart defect called "hypoplastic left heart syndrome" (hlhs) I will explain further about this throughout the website.
CHD (Congenital Heart Defect as it is know in America and Congenital Heart Disease as it is known in the United Kingdom) is the number one killer in babies and children, it is more fatal than cancer. As there is still no national awareness in the UK, the majority of people do not seem to know an awful lot about chd.
Everyone is welcome here, people from all around the world, people who are not even affected by chd please do read through and educate yourselfs on CHD.
Be heart aware and lets spread the word!! "One heart one mind countless voices".
CHD is an anomaly of the heart that is present at birth. CHD’s cause one or more portions of the heart to develop abnormally. At least 35 distinct forms recognized.
(There is no known cause for CHD, although genetics is the number one suspect)
CHD is the # 1 birth defect and is the leading cause of birth-defect related deaths…
(While it is the most common birth defect, it is the least publicized.)
CHD strikes children without regard to economic level, ethnic origin, sex, geographic location or religious beliefs.
Aprox.16,000 infants are born with CHD each year in the U.K.
(Still, newborns are not screened for CHD’s.)
Some babies may be diagnosed before birth or at birth, some not until days, weeks, months or even years later. Sadly, too many are not diagnosed until after death.
Undiagnosed CHD’s and Childhood Onset Heart Disease cause many cases of Sudden Cardiac Death in young athletes.
(Despite these statistics, teen-aged athletes are not routinely screened for CHD’s.)
There are 1.2 million children and adults with CHD alive today
(CHD affects not only patients, but also entire families).
TRISTANS JOURNEY
[Disclaimer] We are not medical personnel & do not intend to take away from your physicians advice. Individual evaluation by an experienced peadiatric or adult congenital cardiologist and cardiac surgeon is needed to determine proper diagnosis and the best course of treatment. We are only here to help raise awareness, educate & inform through life experiences.