The Face of CHD: Meet Idris

On August 16, 2017, Veronica Daut gave birth to two seemingly healthy twins, daughter Sage and son Idris. However, a few days later, a nurse noticed that Idris had a heart murmur, and an echocardiogram was ordered. It would reveal that Idris had been born with a life-threatening heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot. In fact Idris’ diagnosis is almost identical to that of Billy Kimmel, the inspiration for Jimmy Kimmel’s impassioned monologue.

Fortunately for the Dauts, they have robust health insurance, and Idris was referred to one of the top surgeons for Idris’s condition, Dr Frank Hanley at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, for the first of what will be multiple surgeries to correct his complicated heart.

The Dauts learned with less than a week’s notice that Idris’ first surgery had been moved up. They were still coming to terms with a CHD diagnosis when then they had to tackle the logistics and cost of temporarily moving their family of 6 to one of the most expensive housing markets in the U.S.

“OpHeart provided me with resources I needed to learn about CHD and connected me with another mother who was in the area who had the same procedure for her son. They relieved my family’s stress by arranging our stay and helping with the finances needed to travel. Taking away that burden allowed me to focus on my son’s surgery and his recovery.”

Idris had his first open-heart surgery on January 17, 2018, and by all metrics, it was a success. Veronica, Idris and their family are already back home, and Idris is doing well. The only medicine he is taking is aspirin and he has three months until his next appointment.

“My family and I are so grateful for this organization. We truly see the tremendous benefits of donations to organizations like OpHeart and how they are used to help families when they are at their most vulnerable. We can’t express our gratitude enough to OpHeart and we thank you.”

Upcoming OpHeart Event

Rock-n-Roll Concert to Benefit OpHeart

Backspace ROCKS the A,B,C’s

Saturday, March 24th

White Oak Music Hall

If you joined us last February for our Carnival of Magic gala, you might recall that we closed out the evening with Backspace. Backspace is a group of like-minded (and like-hearted) professionals who put on an annual concert to benefit charity. Once a year, they trade in their suits and ties for leather and mohawks and jam their way through a cover set list.

On Saturday, March 24, Backspace is ROCKIN the A, B, C’s and has carefully curated a set list of 26 songs by 26 artists, whose names correspond to the letters of the alphabet. For example, Backspace might decide to kick off the show with Aerosmith’s Love in an Elevator and end with ZZ Top’s La Grange.

And the best part is that proceeds go to OpHeart, funding our mission to save the lives of babies born with life-threatening heart defects through innovation.

This is a family-friendly, all ages show, and we welcome the kiddos. You can buy tickets here for $26, or if you are interested in sponsoring a letter, you can see our sponsorship packages here, or contact Anne at anne@opheart.org.

By The Numbers

DONORstag: Meet Jason and BioPrintAM

Jason has been in the medical device space for nearly two decades, working for both industry leaders and startups, though always with a focus on innovation. After a string of multi-million dollar exits, Jason partnered with Stratasys, a 3-D printer manufacturer and leader in medical applications, to provide hospitals and clinicians with the tools to deliver on the promise of personalized medicine.

However, the consummate entrepreneur, Jason saw a need for a better way to manage 3-D printing workflow, particularly in a regulatory environment that is increasingly interested in this rapidly developing and increasingly prolific technology.

Jason started BioPrintAM in order to support 3-D printing by offering doctors and tools to manage the workflow of 3-D printing, from securely transferring the raw images used to create 3-D printed models to delivering the 3-D models themselves.

Jason has not only donated his treasure to OpHeart, but his time and talents as well. Jason was our first Gold-Level donor*, and has supported OpHeart by creating OpHeart branded software to manage our Heart-In-Hand 3D-Print Pledge.

“I support OpHeart because it embodies the merging of innovative technology for better patient outcomes and philanthropy. I believe in their goals of making 3D-printed congenital heart models available to everyone, regardless of ability to pay.”

Thank you, Jason, for all that you have personally done and the multiple ways you have contributed to saving and improving the lives of children born with life-threatening heart defects.

*Recurring monthly donation of $100 or more.

OpHeart 2.0: New Tools to Support Families and Doctors

OpHeart started 2018 with a new look; after nearly a year of hard work, on January 1, we launched our new website! Not only is the look and feel of the website different, but we have added new tools and programs to support doctors and families.

Through this newsletter, monthly we will feature a particular tool or initiative that we provide in pursuit of our mission to improve the lives of children born with life-threatening heart defects through innovation.