It has been a while since we have updated you about the goings on here at Matthew's Hearts of Hope. It has been a busy time for us both as an organization but more importantly as a family.
First, we would like to wish you all a safe Memorial Day Weekend. We hope that you enjoy spending time with friends and loved ones as well as honor those who have given their lives for our freedom.
On May 21st, Mike and I celebrated thirteen years of marriage. I can’t imagine a better partner for me in life. We have certainly had lots of bumps in the road, mostly with Matthew and he has supported us all through them.
I recently took a trip to Washington DC with our middle son Ryan and have a new found respect for the brave leaders of this great country. I became a citizen in 2001 and saw Washington DC through very different lens this time. Walking around the memorials was great, the quotes from all the leaders, Abraham Lincoln, President Roosevelt, Martin Luther King! Freedom is not FREE, just walk to The Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial, World War II Memorial, many lives have been lost for our freedoms.
I’m so grateful for the many blessings these past few months. We celebrated Nana’s 80th birthday in Florida in February, took a trip to The Bahamas in April. Matthew is currently being weaned off his inhaler, no casts in almost two years, this means that the pressures in his heart are good! He is playing soccer and flag football with his brothers. Last week he pulled a flag in a game, he was so excited, as were Mike and I, his brothers and fellow teammates!
A shout out to The Sherman School who stuffed over 400 Heart Pillows in the 6 th Annual “Hug a Heart” Pillow Project in February and the 4th Grade at Meeting House Hill School who stuffed over 170 Heart Pillows in March.
Our 7th Annual “Giving from The Heart” Gala is scheduled for November 4th, 2017.
As always, thank you for your continued support and prayers! In July we travel back to Ireland as a family for the first time in four and a half years. We are very excited to see granny and grandad, uncles, aunts and all the irish cousins and good friends!
Marie has been working on some legislative stuff again in both Connecticut and Washington DC, more details to follow.
Thank you everyone!
Marie, Mike, Michael, Ryan and Matthew
In January 2017, Matthew’s Hearts of Hope travelled to Boston Children’s Hospital to contribute $30,000 to the 3-D Heart Study. Pictured from left to right Melissa Burke, Dr. Sitaram Emani, Nitsa Carino, President of The Philoptochos Ladies at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Danbury, CT, Marie Hatcher, Krista Consalvo and Noah Schulz 3-D Engineer.
For those who attended the "Giving From the Heart Gala" last November, we presented a video that shared a new project being conducted by a pediatric heart surgeon, Dr. Mark Rodefeld, at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, IN to treat children born with single ventricle heart defects.
Single ventricle heart defect is a rare disease, which affects one of the two main pumping chambers of the heart. The chamber may be too small, underdeveloped, or missing a valve. These are some of the most critical and life-threatening congenital heart disease (CHD) conditions. Each year in the United States, more than 1250 patients - primarily infants - undergo surgery – called the Fontan operation - to correct this defect. Unfortunately, surgery is not a cure. An estimated half of all children who survive the Fontan operation will have heart failure by adulthood and all Fontan patients are expected to eventually fail at some point in their lifetime. The only treatment option for these patients is a heart transplant. Heart transplants are lifesaving, but exchange one set of complications for another set. They are incredibly risky, require intense medical management, and require patients to live in a weakened immune state due to the required anti-rejection medications. Fontan patients who receive a heart transplant have worse outcomes than their non-single ventricle peers, with an average survival rate of just 5 years.
Dr. Rodefeld has been working to develop a Fontan blood pump. His research aims to place a small pump in the hearts of Fontan patients to emulate a normal two ventricle circulation, halt the progression of Fontan disease, and reduce the need for heart transplant. Dr. Rodefeld has assembled a team of engineers and medical device manufacturers to design and prototype this device. There is only one barrier holding back his prototype from being made – funding. .
After we played the video, we asked our audience to support Dr. Rodefeld and you did. MHOH was able to send a check to Dr. Rodefeld for $12,000 to help fund the Fontan Blood Pump.
Funding CHD Research Projects With Your Help - Thank You!
Matthew's Hearts of Hope is so happy to announce that, with your support, we have dispersed almost $30,000 to promising CHD Research Projects this past year.
We would like to congratulate all of our grant recipients for the 2016/2017 Grant Cycle.
Duke University Hospital
Reid Chamberlain, MD
Childrens Hospital of New York
Jamie Harrington, MD
Caitlin Haxel, MD
Erin Paul, MD
Childrens Hospital of Boston
Sarah Pickard, MD
Aaron Prosnitz, MD
Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia
Brian Snarr, MD
Thank you to everyone who applied and a special thanks to everyone who supported us over the last year to make these grants possible.
Matthew's Hearts of Hope In the News
We have been very fortunate to be honored in two different articles recently.
The first article was included in the May/June Philotochos Society Newsletter. Click HERE to read more.
The second article was featured in Marie's home county paper, The Meath Chronicle. Click HERE to read the article.
I recently took a trip to Washington DC with our middle son Ryan and have a new found respect for the brave leaders of this great country. I became a citizen in 2001 and saw Washington DC through very different lens this time. Walking around the memorials was great, the quotes from all the leaders, Abraham Lincoln, President Roosevelt, Martin Luther King! Freedom is not FREE, just walk to The Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial, World War II Memorial, many lives have been lost for our freedoms.
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