Sweet Support/ Paul Cardall's Gift to the Heart Community

Thank you to all of you for leaving comments on the blog, texting me, or e-mailing me with sweet messages of love and support since my last post. It truly means a lot and is helping me get through this time of very important (and emotional) decision making!!! Many of you even sent me your favorite scripture or quote! Thank you Thank you!

These two especially have made very strong impressions on me:

“Be still and know that I am God.”

"Faith makes things possible, not easy."

Also, I wanted to let everyone know about a very kind thing Paul Cardall and his wife are doing for our Utah heart community. I copied and pasted the following post from his blog, "Living for Eden":

Apply for CHD Scholarship & Nominate a Family

"As I waited for doctors to find me a new heart, my community and colleagues in the music industry organized a benefit concert for our family. I wish every family in a similar situation could experience what I felt that evening.

This is why I am doing The Celebrate Life concert at Abravanel Hall on February 15, 2010 in Salt Lake City and rewarding a scholarship to an individual affected by congenital heart disease (CHD) and a financial gift to an angel family affected by this disease.

According to Senator Dick Durbin and the American Heart Association, “A child is born every 15 minutes with congenital heart disease or CHD.” Despite this sobering statistic, the great news is that most individuals born with CHD now have the medical resources available to help them live longer and enjoy the benefits of growing up, getting an education, falling in love, getting married, and raising a family.

I am living proof of the possibilities and want others to experience my happiness.

Therefore, I am extending an opportunity for individuals affected by CHD (whether you are an immediate family member or have been diagnosed with the chronic illness) to apply for a 1-year tuition free scholarship through my local Salt Lake Community College for those affected by congenital heart disease. I understand the costs associated with having a chronic illness. Education often takes a back seat because of mounting medical bills. I don’t want anyone to be denied of an education because of his or her financial situation."

For more information and/ or to apply for this scholarship visit:
http://scholarship.paulcardall.com

Nominate an Angel Family in the Rocky Mountain Region to receive a financial gift:
http://scholarship.paulcardall.com

***We have a meeting this week at Primary's with Mason's heart surgeon , Dr. Kouretas, the head surgeon over Transplants, Dr. Kaza, and Mason's cardiologist Dr. Everett. We want to hear their opinion about Mason getting a heart transplant to one lung at Stanford. We also will be talking with Dr. Rosenthall from Stanford sometime this week, to help answer some of our questions such as; how soon he really thinks we should come, quality of life after Transplant (especially because of Mason's 1 healthy lung situation).....with what he has found from his research, Mason's status when listed ( the plan is 1b , which is 2nd priority)......but, we figure if Mason and I are going to jump into this with both feet and leave our family for a while, then let's just admit him to the hospital, list him as 1a, and get him his heart sooner!!! We'll see what he says?!! I will post later this week with some details about our meeting and phone call.



Mason also has a cardio check up this week and an echo......which will hopefully give us an idea of how his heart failure is. Whether his function is the same, better, or worse......helping us decide on how soon we really need to get the Transplant ball rolling!!




Until next time! Have a great day !