Hopeful Hearts Foundation originated from our family’s personal experience with congenital heart disease. Upon learning of our twins congenital heart defects 20 weeks in utero, we felt an extreme amount of mixed emotions. Our excitement at having twins turned into overwhelming uncertainty. Our daughter Gracie was diagnosed with Truncus Arteriosus and our son Luke with Tetrology of Fallot. We were distraught thinking how and why this was happening, but we believed that we were blessed with these special children for a reason and we were going to be strong for them.

 

Luke and Grace were born February 9, 2005 at Long Beach Memorial hospital and within 48 hours were flown to Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. Our sweet daughter Gracie had her first open heart surgery on February 14, 2005. The same day our sweet son Luke had a catheterization to determine if he also would need open heart surgery. Upon learning we were able to hold off on Luke's surgery while he gained weight and strength, we were filled with joy. Our emotions quickly turned to extreme fear for our daughter, who was just wheeled out from a successful surgery. Within minutes of her return, her heart stopped and she went into cardiac arrest, hanging on to life. With God’s guidance, our surgeon, Dr. Vaughn Starnes, and the incredible CTICU staff helped resuscitate her after eight long minutes (an eternity to us). The following 24 hours were critical for our baby girl, as was the entire hospital, but we were so blessed to be home after a month.

 

We had four months to settle in at home and then we were back at the hospital for our Luke's corrective open heart surgery. Luke’s surgery went well and although his recovery was heartbreakingly painful for him and for us, the repair was successful.

 

Our life was forever changed after finding out about our children's heart conditions and going through the heartache of both of our children having had open heart surgeries within their first six months. It was then that we discussed the possibility of starting a foundation for our children. Our hope was to possibly find a way to bring families together and support those who were going through the same devastating experience we ourselves had been through.  Also, we were so grateful to Dr. Vaughn Starnes (surgeon), Dr. Mark Skalansky (cardiologist), and the entire CTICU staff. We wanted to be able to give back for all that we felt was given to us, through God's Grace. 

 

Although the foundation was close to our hearts, our days turned into weeks and weeks into months and so on. Our life was filled with my husband’s fulltime job, life with newborn twins, doctors’ visits with cardiologist, neurologist, GI, and pediatrician appointments. We put the foundation on hold, concentrated on our life, faith, family and friends. 

 

October 2007 came, and our daughter Gracie had her second open heart surgery at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Shortly after her corrective repair, we learned the surgery was not as successful as we had hoped. Gracie still had more than moderate leakage and within a few months would be facing another surgery. We had scheduled her catheterization for January 10, 2008. We had no idea how rapidly our lives were going to forever change.

 

On January 8, 2008 Gracie went to St. Joseph’s ER for what we thought was going to be a normal routine visit. The doctors started treating Gracie for what they believed to be dehydration. One moment Gracie was being treated for dehydration, the next moment she coded and was fighting for her life. After the longest eight hours of our life, our sweet baby girl Gracie passed away. She went home to be with the Lord. That morning on January 9, 2008, God showed us simply how much we are not in control of anyone's destiny, not even our children’s. 

 

We knew Gracie's heart was weak, due to the fact she had another surgery planned. However, despite her heart condition, we had always been told her life expectancy would be around 65 years if not more, which gave us much hope. We will never know exactly what caused her to code that day. We chose not to do an autopsy; as much as we had wanted to fill our hearts with answers, we knew it would not bring our sweet baby girl back and nothing can change the ultimate plan God has for us.

 

After Gracie’s passing our hearts had gone into complete despair. As difficult as it was, we knew we had to stay strong not only for ourselves, but also for our sweet son Luke. Through God’s grace, we pulled together the strength to get through each day. After going through one of life’s greatest trials, our hearts began to feel the need to help others. Also, we knew we wanted a way to keep Gracie’s memory alive; it was then that we decided to pour our hearts into a foundation and give back. In April of 2008, Hopeful Hearts was established.

 

Little did we know God had more in store for our family. On August 18, 2009 we were blessed with another sweet little girl, Abigail Elyse Chez. Abigail was also born with a heart condition, Tetrology of Falot. She has endured various procedures and two open heart surgeries with the amazing surgeon Dr. Frank Hanley and his team at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University.

 

We were in shock upon learning of Abigail’s heart condition and with that came the overwhelming prospect of having three children with Congenital Heart Defects. Ultimately, we put our trust back in the Lord and realized that God has chosen us to be the parents of these amazingly strong and loving children. Although, our hearts continue to hurt for what they have and continue to endure, we have faith in God’s ultimate plan and we continue to trust that all this is for his glory.

 

Hopeful Hearts has been formed on principles that will help build both awareness and support for all families that have been affected by congenital heart disease. We are committed to helping fund research for heart valve replacement and for the care involved from the corrective surgery through the integral healing and recovery process. Through this foundation it is our hope that we will promote children’s health while honoring our son Luke, our daughter Abbey and the memory of our daughter Gracie.

 

It is our desire to find a way to bring hope to families with children who are affected with Congential Heart Disease.

 

-Adam, Terra, Luke, Angel Gracie and Abbey