MUSIC FOR HEART

Board of Directors

The Delaney Kate Honorary HEART Fund was established in June 2003 by Craig and Brenda Small. Delaney Kate is The Small’s youngest daughter and was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease at one week of age. Delaney Kate’s successful recovery from corrective open-heart surgery at eight months of age was themiracle of a second chance at life. Since then, the Small Familyhas been committed to raising funds that enable them to help less fortunate children who suffer from Congenital Heart Disease.

Being blessed with a child who suffers from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) has truly has been a life changing experience for our family. Watching her struggle through each day to survive and staying by her side as she underwent corrective Open Heart Surgery truly showed us our purpose in life. Our belief is that we were given this special gift so that we could help other children and their families who suffer from CHD regardless of where they may live. This is our way of giving thanks for saving the life of our precious daughter. There are countless numbers of children all over the world suffering from various forms of CHD who are not as fortunate as we to have excellent medical care. Our hearts are heavy when we think of the numerous families that have nowhere to turn because the resources are not available to them.

In an effort to help more children, the Music for Heart Foundation was established in 2006 with a combined effort between the Delaney Kate Honorary Heart Fund and the Conejo Valley Rotary Foundation. With the help of Rotarians around the world and the ability to magnify contributions through the Rotary International matching grant program, many more children have been saved through our program. In 2007, we were able to increase the number of children saved once again, following the invitation to become an affiliate of Gift of life International. The ability to work through their programs has opened many doors and helped us save many lives. One day, we hope to celebrate saving the life of our 10,000th child as Gift of Life International did in 2008.

Statistically, 1 out of every 100 children born worldwide (1% of world population) suffers from some form of Congenital Heart Disease. In El Salvador, 1 out of every 8 children are born with CHD. This number is even more heart wrenching when you consider that the majority of countries have neither the resources, nor the medical technology available to treat these precious children.

According to the World Heart Foundation, over 90% of the world's population, or 4.5 billion people, do not have access to cardiac care. Currently, there are 1,000 children on the critical cardiac waiting list at Bloom Hospital in San Salvador.

Funds generated through the MUSIC FOR HEART Program are designated to sponsor cardio-thoracic medical missions to third world countries where cardiac care is unavailable. In addition, funds allow cardiac children to be flown to the USA for corrective surgeries.

While we know that we cannot help them all, the goal of Music for Heart is to make a difference and help save the lives of children around the world who suffer from Congenital Heart Disease "one heart at a time".