As many may know, our son Lucas Alexander, (a.k.a Big LA) was born on December 7, 2020. Taking us by surprise arriving 6 weeks early, Lucas spent much of his time growing stronger in the hospital's NICU. As any parent knows, all you long for is to be able to bring your baby home with you, but we knew he needed some extra TLC and was in wonderful hands. 

It was during his stay in the NICU that my husband and I learned of his VSD (ventricular septal defect) and several other small holes in his heart. As you can imagine, to a first time parent, hearing this news was pretty scary. We had no idea what any of it meant or how it would affect our son. With overwhelming emotions and tons of questions, we took to our doctors who helped explain what a VSD really was. For those who don't know, a VSD is a hole that occurs in the wall that separates your heart's lower chambers and allows blood to pass from the left to the right side of the heart. Once blood would pass through this hole, it would then get pumped back into his lungs instead of out to his body, ultimately causing his heart to work harder.  

At the time, Lucas's diagnosis was in its very early stages, so to our doctors, they had no idea if this VSD would close on it's own over time, if he would require medicine, or if he would require surgery. 

Lucas is now 18 months old, and thriving! Since the diagnosis, we continue to visit with cardiologists for ongoing check ups, and we've experienced some scares along the way, but we consider ourselves very lucky to have been blessed with such an amazing son. 

Raising funds for congenital heart defect (CHD) research is not only critically important to all babies born with, and children and adults living with CHDs, it is also personally meaningful to us.

By donating to help us reach our fundraising goal, you’re helping to fund the most promising research into CHDs - America’s most common birth defect.

Together we can make a life-saving difference! Thank you in advance for your support.