Mended Little Hearts is organized as a non-profit organization under IRS section 501© (3) and donations are tax deductible.

NICU Care Bags

We're currently putting together NICU care bags for families with heart babies in the NICU so they know that they are not alone. We're hoping to get these together and out to local NICU's by January.

We'd like to include the following in the NICU care bags:

MLH tote

baby blanket

baby socks

beanie baby

"It's My Heart" book

hand sanitizer

tissues

notebook & pen

toothbrush & tooth paste

snacks for parents

water bottle

You can also sponsor a bag for $30.  Please click on the donate button above to do so.

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Great Personalized Gift for Children!

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Dear Friends:

Every year, 40,000 newborns, or 1 in 125 births, are affected by Congenital Heart Defects (CHDs) or structural abnormalities of the heart, most of which will benefit from heart surgery at some point. CHDs are responsible for 1/3 of all birth defect-related deaths and sadly 20% of children who make it through birth will not survive past their first birthday. Needless to say, when a child with CHD is born, their families’ lives change forever. Parents begin asking themselves: Did I do something to cause this problem? What will my child’s life be like if (s)he survives? Will they ever be able to go out and play like other children? Will our family be strong enough to handle this obstacle? How do we make medical and financial decisions?

Our goal is to help families through these difficult times and flood of emotions. Mended Little Hearts of Tucson is a network of heart families that understand and support each other while raising children with heart defects. We provide resources to help families work through overwhelming emotions and move forward to find hope, healing, and laughter.

Thank you so much for taking the time to consider making a donation to Mended Little Hearts of Tucson. We chartered our local group in the Tucson area of the national organization and are very excited about the positive response from fellow families of children with CHDs and are now ready to begin implementing some of our plans. The national organization does not financially support the local groups, so it is up to us to raise money to meet our goals. Some of the immediate goals that we have are:

Hospital, Internet, and Telephone Visiting: We currently have an accredited visiting program which makes on-site visits to families who have children in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) who are undergoing treatment, open heart surgery, or are having heart transplants. Outreach packages are given to these families containing health information, brochures, as well as entertaining items for the child and basic needs for families “living” in the hospital setting. These PICU packages are completely donated, but are not quite appropriate for newborns that cannot make use of coloring books, softcover books and pinwheels, which the older kids love.

We are beginning to implement the same program in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Most NICU’s have big rooms with up to 10 ill children. Families are crowded around their child’s incubator to be with them, while medical alarms constantly go off, people are shuffling in and out, there’s very little privacy with their child. It is a very sobering time for families, as the reality of being a CHD family begins to sink in. Most shockingly, their child has so many tubes and wires on and in their body that the child is often hard to recognize as such. It is our goal to provide support to these families before their child has to undergo treatment, open heart surgery, or have a heart transplant. Often families are caught off guard and are in need of simple things, like toothbrushes and paste, snacks, a notebook to write down questions for doctors, small stuff animals to help keep their infants from pulling out tubes and IVs, and socks to keep their child’s feet warm and keep sensors on their feet. We hope that these packages can help make the NICU feel a little more like home and personal, but mostly to let families know that others who truly understand also care about them.

Social Events: We want to celebrate life and offer camaraderie among our members and supporters. Many of these children are limited in activities (can not get too hot or play in competitive sports) or are in seclusion due to immunological concerns, especially at younger ages, which isolation can be overwhelming to families. We want to provide fun, uplifting activities for them to create memories for them and their families (ex. field trips to the zoo, picnics, family fun days and holiday festivities). Not only does this give hope to parents to see other CHD children thriving, but the children themselves benefit from having friends with the same cool scar and to be able to fit it with others. Also, due to the enormous medical costs, some families could not afford to participate and we would like to be able to ensure that all can be involved in such uplifting events.

Promote Awareness: Through participating in the American Heart Association’s Annual Heart Walk, and other media outlets, we hope to educate people about children with heart defects, the many different types of heart defects, how common CHDs really are and how people can support families.

Dealing with all the aspects of having a child with a CHDs is overwhelming. We are a network of families, trying to help one another and make sure families do not feel alone in this journey.

We would appreciate a tax-deductible donation of any size. We know that this outpouring of love will help lift up these families coping with the effect of CHDs and help them to feel hope in their situation. Thank you so much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Mended Little Hearts of Tucson