Welcome to the Friday Five link up! Please join us by linking up your Friday post of five! You can do a list of 5 things, 5 pictures, 5 random thoughts- whatever! Link up after the guest post below!
This weeks Friday Five guest post comes to us from Marla of the blog Luck Fupus! Marla is sharing 5 facts about heart disease with us today, because it's Congenital Heart Disease Awareness day.
Well hello there, and Happy Valentine's Day! I'm MJ, the NJ state rep and I blog over at a little space on the interwebs that I like to call Luck Fupus.
Take a second and think about it.
Anyway, I'm here to bring you some knowledge about congenital heart defects, Friday Five style. Why, when I have lupus, would I be writing about congenital heart defects? Well my friends, I am a genetic wonder (read: mess), and I was also born with a congenital heart defect called tetralogy of Fallot, which took 4 heart surgeries to correct by the time I was 6.
I'm like Viki from Small Wonder. I'm fantastic. Except I'm not made of plastic, nor do I have microchips here and there. But, I do have surgical wire holding my ribcage together.
Ahem.
Why on Valentine's Day am I here to tell you about congenital heart defects? Because it's Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day!!!!! I'm not here to scare you, I'm here to raise awareness! There are a lot of mommies in this network. Knowledge is power, right?
So, without further adieu...
Five Facts About Congenital Heart Disease
All of my facts came from here, a very reputable source!
1.
Congenital heart defects occur in the early stages of pregnancy when the heart is forming. They include abnormalities in the heart's structure, electrical system, and other abnormalities that affect the function of a baby's heart.
depending on where you read, that number ranges from 1-100 to 1-120.
2.
Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect, and is the leading cause of infant death. In the US, twice as many children die from congenital heart defects each year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined. Yet, funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD.
3.
It is estimated that at least 400 infants with an unrecognized CHD are discharged each year from newborn nurseries in the United States. Pulse oximetry is a simple, inexpensive, non-invasive test done at the bedside to determine the percentage of oxygen in the blood. Low levels in the blood can indicate a critical CHD. Many states have mandated pulse oximetry be performed on every newborn prior to discharge home, but it is still not mandated in all 50 states!
4.
There are more than 40 different types of congenital heart defects. Little is known about the cause of most of them. There is no known prevention or cure for any of them.
5.
For the first time, due to medical and surgical advancements, 50% of CHD survivors (me!) are adults.
I know it seems like pretty heavy stuff for this forum, but, so many of you are mommies (or mommies-to-be), and this is important information. Although CHD can't be prevented, early detection is key...
Happy HAPPY Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day and a Happy Valentine's Day to you all! Thank you Rachel for allowing me to share some knowledge! I would love it if you all came on over to Luck Fupus and said hello! You can find me on BlogLovin, Twitter, and Facebook.
Thanks so much for sharing with us Marla!
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Thank you SO much for allowing me to write about something that is SOOOO very important!
ReplyDeleteThis was my Friday Five last week! My oldest was born with a CHD. :-)
ReplyDelete