Understanding Congenital Heart Disease: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

Image
Congenital heart defects refer to defects in the heart that children are born with. These are one of the most common congenital defects globally. In India too, 200,000+ children are born with a congenital heart defect (CHD). These are the numbers of the cases that are recorded – there maybe many more which go undiagnosed and hence untreated. Only 25 per cent of the children diagnosed with a congenital heart defect are able to get the required treatment. A lack of awareness and access to resources are the biggest challenges in children getting timely treatment. Organisations like Genesis Foundation, a congenital heart foundation India has been taking steps to both build awareness and provide financial treatment to those who cannot afford the cost of treatment. The treatment for CHD is expensive and families that do not earn enough to meet their daily needs have to depend on funds they receive as a congenital heart disease donation to support the treatment. Symptoms of Congenital Heart

Ed Helms won over Congenital Heart Defect

Ed Helms is a real-life hero and an inspiration for children who suffer from Congenital Heart Defects. Anybody can make donation for children suffering in India by scanning this QR code.

Who can forget the iconic Stu (Stuart Price) in the Hangover trilogy or Andy Bernard from The Office? Played by Ed Helms, his characters are often unforgettable owing to his brilliant acting.

Ed Helms was born on January 24, 1974, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. His full name is Edward Parker Helms and he is an actor, who is known for movies like, The Hangover, The Office and Vacation. He has done a lot of voiceover work for companies like Burger King, Lycos and CDnow.com etc. 

He graduated from Oberlin College and studied at the Upright Citizens Brigade. He has lived in New York City for 10 years now and knows English as well as other languages like a little amount of Northern Irish, German, Dutch and French. 

Being the supremely talented artist he is, he also plays bluegrass guitar and banjo in various bands and he even played both in some of his TV and movie appearances. The famous “Stu’s Song” in The Hangover movie was written and sang by him. Ed Helms is also an accomplished harmonica player as he demonstrated to Bear Grylls on the Adventure Survival Series, Running Wild S2.

He has been nominated for 12 awards and has won 6 awards like, behind the Voice Actors Award for “Captain Underpants”, Teen Choice Award for “Hangover 2” and many more. 

Diagnosed with Congenital Heart Defect

This is something that most people are unaware of, but Ed Helms was born with a Congenital Heart Defect. A congenital heart defect (CHD), also known as a congenital heart anomaly or congenital heart disease, is a defect in the structure of the heart or great vessels that is present at birth. 

He was diagnosed with supravalvular aortic and pulmonic stenosis. He had to undergo an open-heart surgery, when he was 13 years old in Grade 7 to treat the severe congenital heart defect. His surgery lasted for nine hours, and after the surgery, he was kept in an intensive care unit for almost a week. He still has a long scar on his chest from the open-heart surgery, which he wears proudly. 

Many times, Ed would feel uneasy in a hospital, and he also suffered from a panic attack whilst in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Machine. 

Despite all the setbacks, he was a keen sportsman at school, something which has continued on with him into later life. Even after his surgery, he continued with competitive swimming in high school and college, and ran for hours in soccer and basketball. 

Ed Helms, the star who suffered from a congenital heart defect as a young boy, never gave up on his dream and became a great actor and ruling hearts of over millions of his fans and followers all over the world. Genesis Foundation is also working towards ensuring children with Congenital Heart Defects get the life they deserve by providing financial assiatance for their medical surgeries. If you want to make donation for children suffering in India you can donate here  https://www.genesis-foundation.net/Give.aspx

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 hospitals for Congenital Heart Disease Treatment

The importance of timey diagnoses is treating a child with a CHD

A Congenital Heart Defect Survivor's Story