Saving Little Hearts

Our son, Roman, was born with a congenital heart defect called coarctation of the aorta but we didn't know it. At his 2 week check up a heart murmur was detected and we were sent for testing to determine the cause of it.
This was a blessing because heart murmurs are fairly common and most are not serious and pediatricians often do not send infants on for further testing just based on a heart murmur alone. There was a month and a half wait to get in to see a pediatric cardiologist for the EKG. It confirmed his condition and they performed heart surgery the next day. His condition was a potentially fatal one if left untreated. He came through the surgery very well and will be 18 months old on July 4, 2006. I had never heard of coarctation of the aorta and new very little about congenital heart defects until my life was changed by it. Now I can't go back. I like to share my story to help other people in similar situations and to raise awareness of heart problems in children and infants. Saving Little Hearts left a care package for us while Roman was in the hospital explaining who they are and what they do. I am so glad they did. It contained lots of information on his heart condition and helped us to understand it better. Please help us get our stories out there to help other parents and to get new standards set in hospitals that will test for congenital heart defects on every newborn.
Thank you,
Jodi and Neal Evans