Hope for Superheroes: Fontan care packages!
Four years ago, Sisters by Heart was born out of a mission to provide support and hope to newly diagnosed HLHS families. We are well known for our signature Norwood care packages, which include all the essentials a family needs to support a newborn child in the hospital recovering from open-heart surgery – and most importantly, HOPE! We have loved supporting newly diagnosed families as they have begun their journeys and joined our heart family.
But we wanted to do more, to branch out, to provide even more support to the families we love and serve. And so the “Fontan care package” idea was born. Our Board has been hard at work over the past year deciding on the perfect items to include in a care package for a toddler or preschooler recovering from open-heart surgery. We wanted to include items to empower a young child and his or her family, and to pay homage to just how strong these kids are, and just how far they’ve come. And, of course, to give our customary dose of HOPE!
We’re thrilled to announce today is our official launch date for our Fontan superhero care packages!
Before we launched, we needed someone to test out our care package, to make sure it was just right. We were thrilled to have that recipient be this cutie, Kate.
Kate has had a particularly rough go of it, including an ecmo run and a Glenn takedown. She likes to give her medical team a run for their money and it is no small feat that she has arrived at the Fontan. Her family received a Norwood care package when her mother was still pregnant with Kate. And her amazing mama, Erica, is well known and well loved by our board. So there was no question that she was our perfect first recipient!
Our Fontan superhero care packages include a super-Fontan cape and mask, a coloring book specially designed just for SBH and crayons, a hospital gown, silicone bracelets for mom, dad and HLHSer, stickers for siblings and, from time to time, a few extra goodies! And it’s all wrapped up in a cool Fontan superhero drawstring backpack!