Well those friends, family & 'arty's/crafties' that follow my blog, you'll already know our little Chelsea has jumped some fairly significant hurdles as a heartkid.
For those new to my blog, I've written about her full journey here.
When Thats Life magazine contacted me to do an article a while back, of course I was more than happy to share Chelsea's story with a wider audience & raise more awareness for congenital heart disease [CHD] and Heartkids.
The magazine was surprisingly good to work with. After accessing many of the blog posts & other articles I had written about our journey, I then spent quite a bit of time talking to Stacey from Thats Life, on the phone.
When the article had been put together & was read back to me on the phone, again the tears started falling. It was a dusty day & I was peeling onions, maybe that was it? No, actually I was in the car, pulled over! I was again taken back to those painful days however where we were really all quite robotic and didn't allow too much crumbling, for the sake of the battle and the other children. Obviously there is alot unresolved. But she's here to celebrate, so thats what we do!
Chelsea's story is on this weeks Thats Life magazine. It came out last Wednesday so be quick and pick up your copy in the next few days if you would like to see it.
Chelsea's pictures have been used in many a Heartkids campaign, from Cuppa for Heartkids to appearing on the Heartkids Australia website. I guess its her big smily face, proudly showing off her zipper that makes this picture so endearing & appropriate. There's so many other pics of adorable little Heartkids all over the HEartkids website too AND so many other amazing & heartbreaking stories too. You can check out their website here to see what 'Heartkids Australia' is all about!
Currently, there's a national Heartkids awareness campaign running on television too. K-Rudd is the spokeperson. There's a few little heartkids pictures used in the video which you can watch below. Chelsea is last little one, with woolly beanie, clutching my hand. She was 2kgs at the time & waiting to gain weight for her first open heart surgery.
And here she is in another video for Heartkids awareness month. She's the second photo after the hands shot, the one cut open, swollen, tubes everywhere. Probably pretty distressing to see. But thats what we all go through. Chelsea goes through that. We sit & watch, helpless. You can then see her again a few more shots on with that little beanie again.
As always, thanks for your neverending support for our courageous girl. She just started kindy would you believe? A special post coming up on that soon!
Kate xo
