Connor's Appeal
Last year little Connor Carss took his shirt off for the cameras.
This year he’s put it back on.
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You may remember Connor’s beautiful blue eyes as they looked out from posters and bill boards during last year’s Heart Children’s Appeal. Uncovering the often hidden issue of childhood heart disease can be hard on a little guy. Understandably, Connor needed a little time off. But guess what? He’s back.
Away from the glare of the camera, Connor’s been busy with a few projects of his own. I’m pleased to tell you, the scar from his second open heart surgery has faded into a thin, silvery-white line. He’s learnt to walk, is starting to talk and when he’s not at home with mum, Rebecca and big brother Caleb, he can be found hanging out with friends, at his local play group. Yes, things are definitely looking up for Connor Carss.
And it’s all thanks to people like you.
For 25 years Heart Children New Zealand has been the sole organisation dedicated to helping children with heart conditions, like Connor and their families. Over the years, we’ve been making the difference in thousands of lives overwhelmed by childhood heart disease. We don’t do it alone. We do it because of people like you, who care enough to support our important work.
And that’s why we are appealing for your support again. Like you, we believe that no one should face childhood heart disease alone. Our National Family Support Programme exists to support children and their families in the hospital environment and when they return home.
In particular, we provide timely, practical and emotional support, information, education, equipment, advocacy and friendship; when and where it’s needed. Thanks to you, our national family support team, with its four Regional Family Support Coordinators and 15 Family Support Workers, helps over three hundred families in any given month.
Families from all ethnicities, all walks of life.
Families like Connor’s. A family who went into hospital with a young baby suffering from a bad bout of bronchilitus and finally went home three months later, with a child diagnosed with five major heart defects. One open heart surgery down and two more to go.
“I’ll never forget seeing Connor after that first surgery. It was very frightening. His chest was left open about an inch; he was as white as a ghost and there were tubes everywhere. I remember thinking I wish I could swap places with him. It didn’t seem fair that he should go through any more pain,” says Rebecca.
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This is just one family’s story behind the statistics.
By the time you sit down for dinner tonight, two more children will have had open heart surgery. You may be surprised to learn that by the end of this week, 12 more babies will be born with a heart defect in New Zealand. That’s 600 every year.
Like Connor, each and every one deserves a good support network to fall back on.
And that’s why I’m asking you to help Heart Children New Zealand this appeal week.
We can give the best of care only because you care.
Thanks to you, this time when you see Connor, it’s the gleam in his eyes you’ll remember … not the scar on his chest.
Thank you.
Heart Children New Zealand Inc.
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