Our lives have been forever shaped by the experience of raising three children affected by Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) but even more so by the loss of one of them. It would be easy to say that losing our daughter Gracie had the greatest impact on our lives and even easier to say that the impact was a negative one, but we've chosen to focus not on what could have been but instead on what can be. We have faith in God's ultimate plan and we do now, as we did when Gracie passed, trust that all things happen for His glory. It was our faith and the love of our children that moved us to act. In April of 2008, we founded Hopeful Hearts to honor Gracie's memory; the lives of our two surviving children, Luke and Abigail; as well as, the lives of the hundreds of thousands of children affected by CHD and the families that are caring for them.

Hopeful Hearts has been formed under the precepts that we will help build both awareness and support for all families that have been affected by CHD. We are committed to helping fund research for heart valve replacement,promote early detection, and for the care involved from the corrective surgery through the integral healing and recovery process. Above all else, it is our mission to use Hopeful Hearts to find a way to bring hope to families with children who are affected by CHD and in doing so, focus not on what could have been but instead on what can be.

Life with the Chezs - Blog
www.lifewiththechezs.blogspot.com