Our Mission
Welcome to our website! Our mission is to build a website of resources to help kids be less afraid when facing major surgery. We hope that you find our pages and listening to our videos a source of courage, humor, and strength.
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Connor's StoryMy story is about heart surgery. My name is Connor and when I was born I had a heart defect/half a heart. My first surgery was when I was only one hour old. My mom and dad were really scared about what was going to happen to me. They were also really afraid if I was even going to be alive. They talked to the doctors and nurses who explained how they were going to help me. After that, I had to go to hospitals many times and I was really scared each time I had to go. When I had my second surgery, they realized I had a collapsed lung, but I still had the heart surgery after they fixed my collapsed lung. As I got older, I thought I wouldn’t have been here, until one day, I had to go to the hospital again to have another surgery and while there, they performed a procedure where they put in something called a “stent”, which connects one valve to another. When I woke up and realized that nothing severely bad is going to happen to me, I was really glad. I was sent home and had to lie still for 2 hours so the stent could cool off. At this time, I was only allowed to drink clear liquids like Gatorade and eat soft foods like pasta. From that time, I was thinking of making a website for other kids facing heart health problems and surgery to help grow healthy hearts. If you are a kid who has to go to the hospital, I hope we can help you not be afraid. I want all kids that have to go to hospitals to try not to be afraid because the doctors and nurses know what they are doing. Even though it will be scary, you can survive, so don’t be afraid.
LOOKING FOR OTHER CHILDREN WHO HAVE FACED HEART SURGERY
Are you a child that has gone through heart surgery and are willing to tell their story of courage, humor, and strength to help inspire other children facing surgery? We are looking for you! We would like to include a short video from you, talking to other kids, about your experience, and how it wasn't as scary as you thought it would be. You can film it on your phone or video camera and send your MP4 to us, or you can post it to YouTube, and we can link it from the URL. We can be reached through the Baden Academy Media Lab, where we are working on this project as research fellows. |