Fixing A Broken Heart

Do you know what the most common birth defect in the world is?

Lisa Mellon does.

In the spring of 2005, Mellon, now a sixth-grade teacher at Clark Lane Middle School, discovered she was pregnant with her second child. Everything was fine until she was 32 weeks along and an ultrasound revealed her daughter had a congenital heart defect, the most common type of birth defect.

“I was scared,” she said. “I had never heard of this before, and of course you think you’re the only person in the world to have it.”

Six months after Mellon’s baby, Marisa, was born, she had open-heart surgery at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center to fix the defect.

In 2010, at the age of 4, Marisa had her second open-heart surgery. And yet through it all, in many ways Marisa is a lucky one.

“Sometimes people don’t even know they have CHD,” Mellon said. “It can be fatal.”

Marisa, now 5, plays soccer, does karate and loves to ride her bike. She gets tired at the end of the day, but that might be because of how busy she is, Mellon said.

“She’s an angel,” she said. “We are just so blessed every day we have her.”

Coin Drive

This week, cans will be available in every Clark Lane Middle School homeroom. Students are encouraged to bring change to fill the cans, all of which will be donated to CHD research.

And while the money will be a nice bonus, the real goal is awareness, Mellon said. One of every 125 babies born in this country has a congenital heart defect, yet so few people know about it, she said.

“I just want people to know that there are other people going through this,” she said. “That you are not alone.”

Students will be reminded of the coin drive every day during morning announcements. Marisa might make an announcement if she doesn’t get too shy, Mellon said.

“She’s nervous,” Mellon said. “But I hope she does it.”

More About CHD

As mentioned, CHD is the most common birth defect, and the birth defect that leads to more deaths than any other, according to Little Hearts, an organization that tries to raise awareness for CHD.

Often, a test isn’t given for CHD, as it requires an echocardiogram. CHD is the leading cause of cardiac arrest in teenagers.

In many ways, CHD is a broad term, as there are more than 150 different cardiac heart defects. To learn more about CHD, or to donate, go to www.littlehearts.org.