Create Awareness of Hypo-plastic Left Heart Syndrome in Ireland and make Heart scans available to all expectant mothers

Have a Heart and Join us Now in Creating Public awareness of HPLS.

1-200 Children each year are born with this Congenital Heart condition. And these numbers are on the rise. This condition is often fatal in Ireland as lack of awareness and in adequate detection are the biggest challenges children with HLHS Face. Thats before they even start treatment.

My son Ben was born in 2003, he lived for 4 hours. We had no pre-warning of his condition. Nor where we provided with any extra scanning, even though there is a history of MAJOR Heart defects in my family. Had I received scanning Ben maybe alive today.

Ben was born with only half a heart working basically, had it been diagnosed in the womb he could have gone on to have surgery and treatment that could have given him a chance at life.

Research into this condition is needed as its a very uncertain world for families and children who have it. There is no known cause of it and as of yet no known cure. However surgery is available to help prolong life and give each child a chance.

In Ben's memory we have established a Voluntary Organisation with a view to becoming a registered Charity as we grow, called The Heart of a Child Fund, part of our aims is to create public awareness of HLHS and also to to lobby for better scanning in pregnancy for women. We aim to also to provide written literature to be place in all doctors surgery's and hospitals throughout Ireland and have information readily available to families who have a child diagnosed with this serious condition. People deserve to know there are options.

For further info on The Fund go to www.theheartofachildfund.webs.com