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Health & Fitness

Local Families Looking to Give Back in Honor of Their Children Born with the #1 Birth Defect

February is typically a celebrated month of love with flowers, chocolates, and paper valentine hearts. In another community, love and hearts are celebrated and remembered differently. That community is one affected by the #1 birth defect in the United States, congenital heart defects (CHD).  During February’s CHD Awareness Month, Mended Little Hearts of Chicago’s family and friends are going to honor their heart heroes by doing something nice for someone else in their name.

Mended Little Hearts of Chicago (MLHC) is asking for help to raise CHD awareness by participating in the Pay It Forward awareness campaign: #MLHCPayitForward. Consider buying a stranger’s coffee, a meal, donate blood or just perform a good deed to honor someone born with CHD - the possibilities are limitless!

Then share it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media outlets.  Include the hashtag #MLHCPayItForward along with the city and state where a good deed was completed.  They are also encouraging those to share on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MLHChicago

Mended Little Hearts of Chicago’s goal is 700 Pay It Forward good deeds, raising CHD awareness while celebrating their heart heroes and remembering their heart angels.  Please consider helping them during the month of February.

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Governor Quinn has proclaimed February 7-14, 2014 as Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week in Illinois, in order to increase awareness of Congenital Heart Defects that affect 1 in 110 births, nearly 40,000 a year.   Mended Little Hearts (MLH) is a program of the Mended Hearts, Inc. Nationally Mended Hearts has been providing hope and support to heart patients and their families since 1951.  Since 2004, MLH has provided families and caregivers of children with heart defects and heart disease an outlet through which they can find answers, education, resources and access to local-based peer-to-peer support – building hope for the future. With MLH, children with CHD and their families find strength and understanding from those who share the same experience.

For more information on Mended Little Hearts of Chicago, visit www.mlhchicago.org or contact Christine Olson at colson@mlhchicago.org.

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