A lot of people don’t know what a Congenital Heart Defect is. I know I didn’t before I met my husband’s little niece Abby. So what is Congenital Heart Defect (or more commonly known CHD) and how does it affect babies?
"Congenital heart defects are problems with the heart's structure that are present at birth. These defects can involve:
- The interior walls of the heart
- The valves inside the heart
- The arteries and veins that carry blood to the heart or out to the body
"Congenital heart defects change the normal flow of blood through the heart.
There are many types of congenital heart defects. They range from simple defects with no symptoms to complex defects with severe, life-threatening symptoms." (website)
1 in every 100 babies are born with CHD...well 1 out of 100 seems pretty small right? Well I googled how many babies are born in a day.First in the U.S. I checked a few different websites but got the same answer. So, how many babies? There are 11,000! That’s in 1 day in the U.S. alone. (Website) 11 babies born in the U.S. are born with CHD. I wanted to go further than that so I googled How many babies were born every day in the world. Again I checked a few different sites and they all had roughly the same number. Approximately 490,000 babies are born throughout the world in a single day. Now if I did my math right (which I might not have) that means that approximately 4,900 babies are born throughout the world in a single day with CHD. (Website) Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defect and are the number one cause of death from birth defects during the first year of life. Nearly twice as many children die from congenital heart disease in the United States each year as die from all forms of childhood cancers combined. (Website) Please Help spread awareness with me for the next 14 days and throughout the year. So that we might be able to get the word out and help these CHD babies get the medical attention they need to mend their broken hearts.
2 comments:
Thanks for teaching us about this. I do have a question which you will probably cover later this week, but here it goes - Is there anything that the mother can do while the baby is in the womb to help prevent this disease?
Way interesting. That is a scary amount. I will discuss more with you later.
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