Please Help Support
“Hannah’s Big Heart”
Hannah’s Big Heart is a children’s picture book about an
eight year old girl who has open heart surgery. My eight year old daughter
(Hannah) and I are co-writing “Hannah’s Big Heart” to help other children who
are facing heart surgery. Hannah wants to share her open heart surgery experiences
in a way that will help other children feel more comfortable by having a better
understanding of what to expect on the day of their surgery. The book is named “Hannah’s
Big Heart” for two reasons 1) because Hannah (Sweet Pea) Spain is a very
selfless and compassionate person and 2) because Hannah’s congenital heart
defect (Atrial Septal Defect) caused her heart to enlarge.
Hannah and I have become amateur heart defect advocates. We
are dedicated to educating parents of the dangers of congenital heart defects
being misdiagnosed or over-looked by pediatricians as Hannah’s condition was
misdiagnosed. For years we were told that Hannah only had a small heart arrhythmia
(that would most likely repair itself, in time) and that was not the case. During
Hannah eight year old checkup (with a new pediatrician) we discovered that
Hannah actually had an Atrial Septal Defect and it turned out that the hole in
Hannah’s Heart was quite large and we were told by a pediatric cardiologist
that if Hannah’s Atrial Septal Defect was not repaired while she was young it would
cause permanent and irreversible heart damage. After Hannah’s open heart
surgery the pediatric cardiovascular surgeon told us that by having her open
heart surgery when we did we increase Hannah life expectancy by thirty years.
On December 22 2016 Hannah had open heart surgery to repair
an Atrial Septal Defect, the surgery went well and she was released from the
hospital on Christmas day. The surgery took about three and a half hours and
Hannah was on a heart-lung bypass machine for twenty seven minutes. Her sternum
was wired and she received three layers of stitches to close the incision. She
had a chest tube (to drain the blood around her heart) and three IVs.
I would like to thank everyone who prayed for Hannah,
because God guided the surgeon’s hands and blessed Hannah with a proficient
procedure. Her pain was well managed and she is recovering very well. I have
nothing but good things to say about the hospital, the surgeon and the nursing
staff at Riley Hospital for Children (Indianapolis). I was truly impressed with
the medical professionalism and the compassionate care that they provided. I
would also like to thank everyone who cared enough to help us with their
financial gifts. Because of your generosity I have been about to get a handle
on my bills and was able to provide Hannah with some Christmas gifts.
Hannah is a beautiful little girl (both inside and out). She
is a straight-A student, and she is one of the most caring and selfless
children in the world. She loves to sing, dance, and practice gymnastics. She
enjoys reading and watching (mostly Barbie and princesses themed) movies, and
is a HUGE fan of Taylor Swift. Hannah has a younger sister, two older brothers
and a mother and father who all love her very much. To learn more about Hannah and her family
visit: Hannah's Blog or her Facebook Care Page.
Please help Hannah achieve her dream of publishing her book
“Hannah’s Big Heart”. The book will be self-published so that we can maintain
the rights, and so that we can publish and distribute the book immediately. It
is our goal to publish and begin distributing Hannah’s Big Heart by the end of
February. After the initial phase of production the book will be available on
Amazon, in bookstores, and hospital gift shops. Our main expenses are for the
illustration, editing, the actual printing and the marketing of the book. We’ve
decided that ten percent (10%) of all book sales of Hannah’s Big Heart will go
to a special fund to help low income families with children who have heart
defects or heart diseases and require surgery.
Thank you for taking the time to read about Hannah and her
upcoming book “Hannah’s Big Heart. To learn more about Hannah please visit
Receive a free signed copy of Hannah’s Big Heart with any
donation of $50.00 or more.
PLEASE share Hannah’s story with others and help us get the
word out.
PLEASE share Hannah’s other blog link:
No comments:
Post a Comment