The Miracle of a Stranger's Gift

This episode of "Heart to Heart with Anna" is the final episode of Season 5: Miracles DO Happen! We started Season Five with a miracle story about a woman who found out after she gave birth that her son had a critical congenital heart defect and who was in the right place at the right time to receive the treatment he needed to survive. This episode, likewise, deals with the discovery after birth that a baby boy was born with congenital heart defects. This show not only deals with the discovery after birth but also with the intercession of an angel who might very well have helped to save this baby's life. Our Guests for this show include Rebekah Simpson and her mother Susan Mills who both witnessed a miracle.

Transcript

Announcer: 0:06

Welcome to "Heart to Heart with Anna" featuring your host Anna Jaworski. Our program is a program designed to empower the CHD or congenital heart defect community. Our program may also help families who have children who are chronically ill by bringing information and encouragement to you in order to become an advocate for your community. Now, here is Anna Jaworski.

Anna Jaworski: 0:28

Welcome to the fifth season of "Heart to Heart with Anna". Our theme this season is 'Miracles Do Happen' and we have a great show today. This episode of "Heart to Heart with Anna" is the final episode of Season Five. We started Season Five with a miracle story about a woman who found out after she gave birth, that h r son had a critical congenit l heart defect and who was in t e right place at the right time o receive the treatment he need d to survive. That was an amazi g show. This episode likewi e deals with the discovery, af er birth, that a baby boy was orn with a congenital heart def ct. This show not only deals ith the discovery after birth, but also with the intercession o an angel, who might very well have helped to save this baby's ife. Today's show "The Miracl of a Stranger's Gift" features ebecca Simpson and her mothe Susan Mills. Susan Mills is t e mother to Rebecca Simpso, and grandmother to Braden Sim son. She's a retired chemist by rofession. Today she is a ver devoted mother and grandmothe who was witness to a mirac e, which might have saved Braden life. A christian, Susan bel eves she spoke to an angel wh was looking over her grandson. One of the joys of Susan's ife has been watching her g andson overcome difficulties re ated to his heart defect. It's o wonder Susan affectionately re ers to Braden as her "Iron Man." Welcome to "Heart to Heart ith Anna" Susan.

Susan Mills: 1:50

Thank you for having me today.

Anna Jaworski: 1:52

I'm so excited about your story. This is just an amazing story. But let's start at the beginning. Can you tell us about your grandson's birth, especially if you were able to be there with your daughter?

Susan Mills: 2:03

Yes, it was a beautiful occurence. She went into labor just in a normal way. And we get all the family together for the birth and everything appeared to be fine. And it wasn't till the next day that we found out that there was a problem. And so we were all together with her during all that difficult time.

Anna Jaworski: 2:18

Yeah, it's really scary when you think that you have a perfectly normal baby. And then all of a sudden, there are too many people in the room, or somebody comes in with a face that's not happy, like it should be.

Susan Mills: 2:29

Yeah, it's scary. There's no other way to put it.

Anna Jaworski: 2:33

So I know that you were visited by an angel. Did that happen in the hospital? Or where did it happen?

Susan Mills: 2:40

No, it was actually in a restaurant. He was about three months old, and we were eating dinner out and went into the bathroom to change his diaper while mom and dad finsihed up eating. And a lady came over to me and asked me if he had a heart defect. I said,"Well, yes. How did you know?" And she said, "Well, I know this might sound strange. But do you believe that God talks to people?" I said, "Yes, ma'am. I do." And she said, "Well, he told me to tell you that you need to go to Atlanta, to Sibely Heart Center." Now the funny part about this is we live in Birmingham, Alabama. And we knew nothing at all about it. But we knew that we were not satisfied with the care that was currently available at that time, because they did not have pediatric cardiology available. It was all adult, a large university hospital that was available. And care just did not seem the same as what you would want when you're dealing with a young baby. We just didn't feel like the compassion was there that needed to be. And so the advice to go to Atlanta was really a strange thing coming to us. The funny part was, I just had a feeling how compassionate this person was. And I went back out to the table to tell Rebecca what had happened and I could not find the lady.

Anna Jaworski: 3:42

Isn't that amazing?

Susan Mills: 3:44

I said before, so this was not a new occurrence to me. In times of danger, I had similarly felt the presence before even seen him in a bodily form. So I told Rebecca, "I said I can't explain it." I said that"we've been praying a lot so who knows?" "Maybe this was an angel." Because I looked everywhere in that restaurant and could not find that lady. We were only talking just a few seconds of timing for her to have just disappeared or paid her check and left. I had to feel like that this was divine intervention to give us that advice, because otherwise we would have had no earthly idea to go to Atlanta.

Anna Jaworski: 4:17

Right, right So was she a doctor or a nurse? Did she give you any idea...?

Susan Mills: 4:22

She did. She did say she was a pediatric cardiologist's nurse. So she had worked for some doctors in Atlanta, I forgot about that that part.Yeah. She did say that.

Anna Jaworski: 4:33

She was a pediatric cardiology nurse who just happened to be in the bathroom while you were changing your grandson's diaper, and just happened to notice... And it's not like he had had open heart surgery. He had no scars that would indicate...

Susan Mills: 4:46

No, no indication whatsoever, no blueness, no nothing. I mean, he was perfectly normal at that point. All we knew is he had a heart defect, multiple heart defects. Well, that set us on a path that is just history now to tell you how wonderful the care was that we got.

Anna Jaworski: 5:01

Perfect stranger could tell that something was wrong with Braden's heart. And then she told you where to go and it was out of state. I mean, had you ever even heard of Sibley Heart Center before she came up and told you about it?

Susan Mills: 5:14

No, not at all. The first thing that hit me was"Okay, God, you're paying attention" because we were doing a lot of praying during that time. And so the first thing that hit us was 'God's with me,' and if He uses a perfect stranger to counsel or advise you. That didn't really surprise me, because that's the kind of faith I walked with me for years. So that was not surprised to even think that. It just I'm not used to it happening to me.

Anna Jaworski: 5:38

Right, right. This isn't the kind of thing that you think will happen to you!

Susan Mills: 5:41

Yeah, yeah, you expect to see other people getting miracles happen. You don't expected to see it yourself. Even when you're praying with faith, you still get surprised when He answers.

Anna Jaworski: 5:48

Well, yeah, especially with a perfect stranger like that. It's not like you've had a dream that you knew where to go or that you saw a television show or something. A flesh-and-blood person walked up. Did she give you a busines card with a phone number, or how did you know who to contact?

Susan Mills: 6:05

She just mentioned the name Sibley Heart Center and my daughter looked it up on the internet the next day, called them and told them the situation and they said, "Yes, we will see him" and they got him an appointment within a week. Which I'm sure is fairly uncommon nowadays too. For a brand-new patient to get an appointment with any specialist in a week's time is pretty unknown. So we felt like that was answered prayer also, that we got an appointment so quickly. And then when they evaluated him they confirmed what we already knew, made one minor change to the stenosis was not exactly what e previously had been told. So hey gave us the correct iagnosis and even showed us on he echo with the echo going o. The doctor explained it to u while he was doing the echo. W actually saw the heart b ating and saw the abnormal p rt on the screen.

Anna Jaworski: 6:47

You were there with Rebecca, and with Braden, through all of this, weren't you?

Susan Mills: 6:51

Yes, Oh, yes.

Anna Jaworski: 6:53

Rebecca is so lucky to have you for mom and to be there for her and Braden, because this is a really scary thing to go through.

Susan Mills: 7:00

It's scary for the whole family. You're looking forward to your grandson being born and then to find out there's something wrong. And there was no medical explanation for it either. There was no family history. No, nothing to have warned it, no, nothing to explain. Just it's there. And so we go, "Okay, God, you got a plan, what is it?" We're seeing the solution to that now.

Anna Jaworski: 7:19

I think we are. Yeah, I think just from the little bit of the story that I know, I could definitely see where there is a divine plan. And it's so much greater than anything that probably any of us would ever have thought to plan for our own lives. His plan is so much greater. Oh my gosh, this is such an exciting story. It actually gives me goosebumps, to think that you really did talk to an angel. That there really was somebody there for you and that you could feel God's hand upon your family. It's a beautiful expression of faith and love. And I love you sharing it with me. It makes me feel like I get to be a little teeny tiny part of it. Well, we're gonna have to take a quick commercial break. Our time is just flying by but don't leave yet because when we come back, we're going to talk to Rebecca about the miracle that she has experienced when she almost lost her son.

Baby Hearts Press: 8:03

Anna Jaworski has written several books to empower the congenital heart defect or CHD community. These books can be found at amazon.com or at her website www.babyheartspresscom. Her best seller is "The Heart of a

Mother: 8:19

An anthology of Stories" written by women for women in the CHD community. Anna's other books "My Brother Needs an Operation," "The Heart of a Father," and "Hypoplastic Left

Heart Syndrome: 8:29

A Handbook for Parents" will help you understand that you are not alone. Visit babyheartspress.com to find out more.

Anna Jaworski: 8:40

Welcome back to our show "Heart to Heart with

Anna: 8:41

A Show for the Congenital Heart Defect Community." Today's show "The Miracle of a Stranger's Gift" features Rebecca Simpson and her mother Susan Mills. We just finished talking with Susan about how a perfect stranger told her and her daughter where to take her grandson for treatment, and how that ended up helping, possibly even saving his life. But we're gonna learn a little bit more from Rebbeca. Rebecca Simpson is a married mom of three, a twelve-year-old daughter, a seven-year-old son, who is her heart hero, and a two-year-old son. And she is currently in her third trimester with yet another son. Rebecca and her husband James gave birth to their first son Braden on May 31. He has a ventricular septal defect as well as pulmonary and aortic stenosis. When he was two-and-a-half years old. He also developed a double chamber right ventricle or DCRV, and had surgery in Atlanta. Though they were able to repair his defects, his heartbeat never returned, so he had a permanent pacemaker implanted due to total heart block. Rebecca's family gives back by donating their time and money to the wonderful organizations that helped them when they needed it. They speak on behalf of Children's Miracle Network and other organizations. Braden is the face of the Love's Travel Stop Campaign for August and September of 2015. In Rebecca's spare time she is an accomplished singer and crafter who loves to travel with her family. So welcome to "Heart to heart with Anna," Rebecca.

Rebecca Simpson: 10:03

Hi, thank you so much. This is such an honor to be able to speak and about, of course, something I'm so passionate about.

Anna Jaworski: 10:11

It's so nice to talk about our kids, isn't it?

Rebecca Simpson: 10:14

Yes, I don't think we would ever actually not want to.

Anna Jaworski: 10:19

I feel the same way. So, what an amazing story you and your mother have! It's almost unfathomable to me how you started out in one hospital, thinking one thing, and they were advised to go someplace else. And how that was probably really the right path for Braden. So why don't you take us back a little bit to what you were told when he was first born. And you first discovered that he had these heart defects.

Rebecca Simpson: 10:43

When he was born, like my mom had said earlier, we had no inkling of anything going on with him. And it was actually his second day of birth, when they're doing their typical newborn check. Once again, I think with the pediatrician, and they said, "We hear a murmur." Well, you hear about things like that, and you think to yourself, "Okay, murmurs can be innocent." So unfortunately, his was not innocent. And they immediately brought in a cardiologist that was from the local hospital there near Birmingham. And they didn't really tell me much. So long story short, we went to the cardiologist that was recommended from the hospital and we were given a very grim diagnosis. It was similar to his current diagnosis, but it was different wording, or I'm not entirely sure what the difference were. But there might have talked about the atrial as opposed to the ventricular, that kind of thing. But yeah, when this happened, we're talking about a three month old. I didn't honestly know anything about VSD, I didn't even know what CHD was, I didn't know what it even stood for. And I obviously knew nobody that had a child or had a family member affected by CHD. So when I started, of course, as we always do, googling, it was pretty scary. And I honestly did not know if I was even going to have a son. A son that we had prayed for, in fact. We'd had some infertility issues for a while. So we had actually really honestly prayed for this son. And we've since been blessed with another son and another son. So we're thankful for that. We really thought, "Is God going to take the son away that we prayed for and for me to give it up?" Because it just, it seems that serious, and we took it that serious. But yeah, like you were saying, long story short, when this total stranger comes up, and my mom comes out of the bathroom, and she practically looked like she'd seen a ghost, she's definitely in shock at this point. And she tells me this, I mean, there was no doubt I knew that God had complete control over the situation. But in the same sense, I do believe that for whatever reason, we were supposed to go to Atlanta. And here we are now living in Atlanta. And we did move because we wanted to be closer to that hospital. But I'll tell you this, when you're dealing with your three-month-old, and the hospital that he had originally been at was talking about doing exploratory surgery on your three-month-old, and they weren't even going to repair anything. They just wanted to see what was going on. That's a scary time. And we actually took him to be baptized at that point with our church. And our church was praying for him. And they were really staying into prayer with us. And then this all happened with this angelic encounter. And I'll tell you this, the minute that we got to Sibley, we met with Dr. Parks, and the rest is history with him. We have never switched doctors. He is absolutely phenomenal. He's the kind of doctor that gives you a hug, instead of a handshake. These people with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and with Sibley, who is their cardiology center of CHoA. It doesn't matter how grim your outlook is, they give you this peace and this positive vibe and this comfort that I haven't found anywhere in my entire life. And we know that not only I feel like God gave us what we needed, but he just gave us what maybe we didn't know we needed if that makes sense.

Anna Jaworski: 13:43

Well it's almost like you have a new family, don't you think?

Rebecca Simpson: 13:47

Oh, I fully agree. There's a nurse there she's actually a nurse practitioner, and she works hand in hand with Dr. Parks, her name's Patty Simpson. And we come in every six months for his appointments. And they check of course, his pacemaker at one clinic. And then they check of course, his heart at another. And Patti came up to me, maybe he was about five or six and we had just shaved his hair real close shaven. And she said "Oh I miss those curls." And I took back for a minute and I thought maybe she's getting confused with someone else. And I thought, "No, wait a minute." I looked back at pictures, and here was a woman that in all practical purposes, of most time when you go to the doctor, you kind of feel more like a number, and not really a name and a family and a person. And she remembered things about my son at eighteen months or twelve months or whatever it was that I didn't even remember. I had to go back and look at pictures. And I thought, "Yeah, she's right, he did have these little curls, these little ringlets on the back of his neck when he still had long hair." And yeah, it blew me away. It made me feel just so much more appreciated. And you're right. So like I was in the right place, and it was my family. It wasn't just my doctor's office.

Anna Jaworski: 14:54

Right, right. I know that's how we felt with Alex's doctors as well. And especially the nurses because you have more interaction with the nurses than you do with the doctors. And the way that they take our children into their own hearts is just amazing. And I feel that we have been very blessed. It's not fair that any parent should have to go through what we've been through. And yet, it has made me a better mother. And I feel it has made Alex a very strong young man and the things that he has been able to endure. Don't you think? I love it that your mom calls him"Iron Man"! Oh, it's so cute!

Rebecca Simpson: 15:29

e actually all him the Energizer Bunny, oo, because he has so much nergy since the pacemaker.

Anna Jaworski: 15:33

I just love that. That's just so awesome. So that eah. So yeah, that fits him to. He has a lot of superhero an action figure, I guess, nickn was a miracle to have this angelic visitation. But it sounds to me like maybe there ere some other miracles that ou've experienced since you've ad Braden.

Rebecca Simpson: 15:54

We honestly don't see his condition now as a curse. I hate to say it. But as some people might take that as a negative thing, we actually see it as a blessing. Yes, he's had to undergo surgery. And yes, he has this permanent machine in him that helps his heartbeat, that he's dependant on 100 percent. But the connections that we've made with people, we feel more appreciative of life, we do not squander a moment, we live life to the fullest. Like, I travel, when I say a travel, it might just be to DisneyWorld for the weekend for one park. We do not let anything bother us like it used to. We just realize that life is precious, and we've got to live every moment to the fullest and appreciate, even with our other children and appreciate thier health. Because with a CHD family, we talk about this all the time, about it's a club you didn't want to be in, but you're glad that you're in it with these people.

Anna Jaworski: 16:41

I have friends who have children with other problems, autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, deafness. I used to be a teacher of the deaf and hard-of-hearing. And I liken our community, the most to the deaf community, that I know. Very tight-knit, everybody watches out for each other, we pray for each other, we care for each other. You don't see that in every single community. And I feel that if we had to have something wrong, this has the most caring people, the most loving people. And I feel blessed that they are now part of my life. And you know what? Everybody has something, everybody has something that they're dealing with. We have this amazing community to help us heal. And look at this hospital that you're part of. I've taken a tour of the hospital where your son has received treatment. And I've actually gone to a conference in Atlanta and chatted with some of the doctors that work in that facility. They are amazing.

Rebecca Simpson: 17:33

They really are. Yeah, we could not have probably picked a better hospital. So wasn't it great that God did?

Anna Jaworski: 17:38

Mmhmm, especially since you'd never heard of that hospital before. You had never been to Atlanta? Oh my gosh!

Rebecca Simpson: 17:49

We'd never een to Atlanta. We lived in Birm ngham - it's two hours away. And we had never been to Atla ta until his first doctor's app intment. And then of course, w fell in love with the city And as they say, the rest is hi

Anna Jaworski: 17:59

Wow that's amazing. What a great miracl tory. But we enjoyed visiting e ery time of course, we had to go for an appointment. It was kind of something fun to l ok forward to in the midst of c aos, if that makes sense. n touch with the miracle sto y, it's really interesting, be ause there's actually two that stick out in my mind. And one f them is in fact moving, which I'll get to in just a second. But actually, when he was goi g to have his surgery, you ha mentioned in my biography, o the fact that he developed thi double chamber right ventr cle. He was blessed enough un il two and a half before su gery was a definite. And what ha happened is he would get win ed, getting out of bed walkin, pretty much doing regular aily activities, not even playi g. And he would be walking ju t in the living room and lit rally just stop right where e was and squat. It was almost nstinctively, like he knew t at he was out of breath. An we started noticing this just etting more frequent. Well, we story. Well, we need to take a quick commercial break. We're ot to the point, like I said, w en he was getting out of bed, he would get winded and he woul literally be gasping for bre th. And we were praying of co rse to avoid surgery, as any p rent would. And we were hinking, "Okay, it's got to b asthma", "got to be a sin s infection has to be anything"And we took him to the ENT octor, I think, which was our first choice. And the doctor aid, "unfortunately, n, he's healthy as far as asth a goes, and he's healthy ith his nasal and sinus issues" "I think you probably need to see your cardiologist" becau e obviously he was under the ca e of the doctor at the time And I don't know, I was just w estling with the idea. And I as kind of arguing with Go going, "no, God, I'm not r ady." "He's still two-and-a-ha f." And I was just really ha ing a hard time with it. W ll, I was at Walmart. I mean, a clear as I'm talking to you I hear a voice as I'm walki g through Walmart, "call Sible" and I'm arguing in my head o to speak. "No, no, it can't be that." Well, I did c ll, I did listen, and I called, we got almost an emergency a pointment. And they got him in nd they checked him out at firs and they said, "Yeah, ever thing actually looks to be ind of the same as it is, we'll eep monitoring him." So Dr. Park who is such a phenomenal ca diologist and I truly believe he's an angel on earth because I truly believe that if he had ot dug deeper, we could have been in a different situation. A d what happened was, he s id, "Well, I hear the hole in h s heart, and I hear that it sou ds like it's getting smaller bec use the sound changes, kin of like a finger over the wate spout of a hose." When you h ve your finger over the water spout, the sound changes if you emove your finger, because of t e pressure. And so that made ense. And he said, "So it sound just by listening that the h le was closing, which is what e want." He said, "but I'm ot one hundred percent comforta le with that, so I'm going to d an echocardiogram." So we did And that's where our world cha ged. And so basically, they fo nd out that there was a muscl thickening, overgrowing. And it was actually cutti g off the restriction to the blo d flow to his heart, his hole w s not closing. It was giving he impression that the hole as closing. And so that' of course, when this surger happened, very shortly afterwa ds. And so we truly believe t at's another divine interventio, God intervention, that he ki d of nudged me and said, "Tak him to the doctor, he really needs to go to the doctor now." ecause if we had waited any longer things could have been different. And the third one, f course, the fact that we liv here. It was really weird, be ause we have been really called o be here. Not just for Braden b t we felt like there was just a ministry here involving B aden, just even connections. nd my husband was working for company at the time that no only had a Birmingham loca ion, they had a location in the tlanta area. And we prayed bout it. And we noticed the didn't have any openings. So we kept praying about it. We though, "Okay, God." We basically laid it on the table for Him. nd we said, "Lord, if we're s pposed to move we need a j b opening because we cannot ove without our health insuranc." Sure, that would be crazy. And sure enough, it was cr zy. It was literally about a w ek later, my husband got cal ed into the office of his ompany. And he said we actually ould like to promote you from warehouse manager to assistan manager and we would like t move you we don't have any o enings. But we do have some n of all places, Georgia. It was Noonan, Georgia to be spec running a little short on tim, but I don't want us to leav yet. I want to hear what adv ce you and your mom have for oth r families so we will be right back after this

Baby Hearts Press: 22:30

Anna Jaworski has spoken around the world at congenital heart defect events. And she is available as a keynote or guest speaker for your event. Go to hearttoheartwi hanna.com to learn more abo t booking Anna for your eve t. You can also find out mor about the radio program, kee up to date with CHD reso rces and information about advo acy groups, as well as read Anna s weekly blog. Anna wants you o stay well connected and part cipate in the CHD comm nity. Visit hearttoheartwithann.com today.

Anna Jaworski: 23:02

Welcome back to our show "Heart to Heart with

Anna: 23:05

A Show for the Congenital eart Defect Community." Today's show "The Miracle of a Stranger's Gift" features Rebecca Simpson and her mother Susan Mills. We just finished talking with Rebecca and her mom about the miracles that both have experienced since Braden's birth, it really is quite phenomenal. And we only have just a couple minutes left. But I'm going to have all of us in the studio together. And the one major question that I want to ask both Rebecca and Susan is what the single most important iece of advice is that they c n give to families, having to d al with open heart surgery, as ar as supporting one anoth r. Because you two sound like ou really knew what to do. nd Susan we'll go ahead and st rt with y

Susan Mills: 23:45

Okay, well the biggest thing I can say is number one, stick with your family, hold each other up, hold each other close. And then seek out any support groups that you can find. Rebecca started one in Birmingham called CHD Hero Support. We've since had a lot more formed. There's some nationwide ones now, Heart to Heart and some others that come out of Atlanta. So wherever you happen to live, seek out those support groups that are local to you or seek out one that's not local. And I guarantee any of them will welcome you. And don't be afraid to share what you need to share with them so that they can know what to do to help you. And let them be your help. Because that meant the world to us when we found some.

Anna Jaworski: 24:20

hen you don't hare with others, you deny eople the opportunity to do omething good for you.

Susan Mills: 24:26

Right, that's right.

Anna Jaworski: 24:27

You're denying them an opportunity to be a friend. So yes, I agree with that one hundred percent. I love that advice. Okay, Rebecca, what do you think is the most valuable advice you can share with our Listeners?

Rebecca Simpson: 24:39

Well, I definitely agree with her. The main thing is, I know that the pulse oximeter testing is not mandatory in all of our states, unfortunately, in the hospital when your child is born. So along with her advice, definitely once you find out you have a child with any kind of CHD, get that support and be welcome to that support and don't ever feel alone. Because that was my one thing that I never wanted anyone to feel kind of alone like we did, you know, when we found out. But make sure to contact your congressman and find out if your state that you live in makes it mandatory for this little tiny test where they put this little tiny Band Aid looking thing on your child's toe, and it will test the oxygen level in their body. And there are so many congenital heart defects that can be detected that way. And I truly believe that has saved a ton of babies. Georgia does have it mandatory and I believe Alabama does, too. But yeah, they're not across the board. And that is just sad, to me, that's very sad to me.

Anna Jaworski: 25:37

Well, It is and thanks to Annamarie Saarinen nd some other wonderful people ho are out there who are being ery strong advocates and obbying for this. This is ecoming not only a national ssue, but also an international ssue. And to me, that is just henomenal. We have been able to ake this, like you said, very nexpensive, non invasive test hat we can get to all newborns, ot just ones who are suspected o have CHDs. Because my baby ike your baby, was not dentified before he was born. nd we went home with him before e realized that there was a roblem. And he had that pulse ximetry test, we would have nown right away and it would ave saved, I don't know how any endles nights of worry on y part. We almost lost Alex. hat test would have told us his aturation levels were in the ighties. It wasn't enough for im to be really blue. But it as enough for them, that they ould have known that something as wrong. And to dig a little it further, we were lucky we xperienced a miracle but not very family is that lucky. And o we parents have a esponsibility to push our awmakers to make this andatory. Luckily, it is andatory here in Texas now. I ove it. But in Georgia, labama, really across the nited States is becoming more art of the newborn screening. o luckily, that is becoming tandard care for our newborns ere in the States. Now we also ave to help our friends orldwide. So that this is omething like I said, it's non nvasive, it's a couple of ollars, it's a very inexpensive ay for some critical congenital eart defects to be diagnosed efore they become fatal. So I ove that advice.

Rebecca Simpson: 27:16

Exactly. We don't need any more children being lost to CHD. I agree.

Anna Jaworski: 27:20

No we don't, because we all know how scary it is to live with it. But I think it's even worse when you have a child who dies from it. I just love that both of you ladies were on! You were just terrific. It was so much fun to have a mother and daughter on the show together. So thank you, Susan. And thank you, Rebecca, for coming on the show today.

Susan Mills: 27:37

Thanks so much for letting us.

Rebecca Simpson: 27:40

Yes, thank you. Thank you so much Anna for having us on the show because this helps me spread the word and we appreciate you spreading the word and we're just very honored that we've both got to do it together since she's a big part of helping me raise my kiddos.

Anna Jaworski: 27:54

Right. Well, I just love that. Thank you so much. And that does conclude today's show. Thanks for listening, everybody. Please come back. We have something special planned for you. I'm going to be taking a little vacation after this show. And a wonderful heart Dad who was on our show previously, Chris Perez is going to be coming on and he's going to do a couple of shows for me. You're not going to want to miss it. Chris has a wonderful blog, and he is going to be bringing his blog to life on the radio show and give me a chance to plan out some other shows, work on some books that I have planned. And then I'll come back with a brand new season! Season Six has a great theme it is "Carpe Diem, Seizing the Day." And I think we're gonna have some terrific guests for that season. If you're interested in being a Guest, make sure you go to hearttoheartwithanna.com and fill out the Be on the Show form. Let me know that you want to be on the show and you have a great story to share. So don't forget, come back at noon eastern time on Tuesday. Until then find and like us on Facebook. Check out our website hearttoheartwithanna.com and our CafePress Boutique. Follow our radio show on Blogtalkradio and Spreaker and remember my friends, you are not alone.

Conclusion: 29:06

Thank you again for joining us this week. We hope you've been inspired and empowered to become an advocate for the congenital heart defect community. "Heart to Heart with Anna" with your host Anna Jaworski can be heard every Tuesday at 12 noon, Eastern time. We'll talk again next week.