Wendy posted this to her MySpace blog this morning to help raise awareness......


Cherubs - The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) Research, Advocacy, and Support



I want to take a moment to explain Cherubs and CDH and the involvement that I have..

I was online one day and I was looking for volunteer work and ran across some ad that simply said Angel Ball and Golf Tournament. It said nothing about what it was about, and nothing about who was the leader of this. So I emailed the address it gave me and waited for a respone..

I was on the way to dinner with Jason and some friends and I recieved an email with all of the information about the events and then at the bottom of the email it said "BTW... you know me, I took photos at your wedding". I immediately remembered her and I emailed her back! I told Jason about it and I kept saying what a small world it was! I honestly believe it was fate that we connected again. I know that God put her back in my life for a reason!

I knew absolutely nothing about CDH. I couldn't even tell you what CDH stood for or who it affected. I went online and read a bit about it so I would know something. When I went to the Angel Ball it was the first time I actually talked to parents and heard their testimony. A parent explained to me how the lungs do not devolp properly due to the organs growing in the chest cavity (these are my words) the actual definition [The diaphragm is formed in the first trimester of pregnancy and controls the lungs' ability to inhale and exhale. CDH occurs when the diaphragm fails to form or to close totally and an opening allows abdominal organs into the chest cavity. This inhibits lung growth. The cause is not yet known.] I also learned that CDH happens 1 in every 2,500 births. 1,600 of those are in the US, and about 50% of those babies do NOT survive. Babies are not surviving because the is no cure, because there is no reaserch, because we didn't even know this existed, because we haven't been directly affected by this. Do not wait until your baby becomes a Cherub. Babies don't deserve to go through this but we can ALL do our part to help out anyway that we can. Even if you buy a t-shirt, or a pin. I can guarentee someone that see's Cherubs on your T-shirt will ask "What is Cherubs" and that is another person to learn what this is and what this all about. We can't make CDH not happen but with knowledge about this we CAN help cure this! Please help save a baby's life.

I didn't know Dawn was affected by this. Her son, Shane was 6 when he lost his battle with CDH. She didn't say my son had this, she is more concerned about stopping this illness rather than just telling people about what has happned to her. When I learned that she had been affected by this I was so amazed at how she cares so much for everyone that she would take something bad that has happed to her and has turned it into something positive. Her story is quite amazing and defintely she should share it however she is so humble, and so genuine that she knows the time to share. She is amazing!

So, now... go online: http://www.cdhsupport.org/

Read about this so you can learn.

Learn about this so you can stop this.

..and buy a hoodie. They are really cute!


<3,

Wendy