My name is Danielle McKain and I am the mother of a child with a congenital heart defect from the Pittsburgh, PA area. On September 27, 2010 my son Jameson was born with hypo plastic left heart syndrome. After four open heart surgeries, my husband and I, with the help of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP), had to place Jameson on the heart transplant list. Luckily, just before his 1st birthday, he received a new heart and a new chance at life. Currently, he is at home recovering from his 6th open heart surgery that was performed in October of 2012 due to complications from his heart transplant.
Because of the strong support our family received from friends, neighbors, community members, even strangers, I, along with a group of individuals touched by Jamesons’s story, created the Jameson’s Army non-profit organization. 1 in 100 babies are born with some type of heart disorder and though many go on to live healthy normal lives, many do not. Our mission is “Raising awareness and funding for children and families affected by congenital heart defect (CHD) and those who help support them.” We want to help spread awareness and education concerning CHD and help these children to grow and live the lives they deserve. Along with spreading awareness we contribute a food and needs drop one to two times a month to the children and families staying at the heart center of CHP and The Children’s Home of Pittsburgh. We also provide therapeutic heart cough pillows used for the recovery process of open heart surgery and quarterly meals for the families and staff. We also dedicate our resources to local community organizations in the Pittsburgh area.
On April 4, 2014 we will be holding our “Green Heart Gala” cocktail party hosted by DVE morning show comedian and radio personality Bill Crawford at the LeMont Restaurant on Mt. Washington in Pittsburgh with approximately 400 guests. For us to make this event a success we need your organization to help us and the CHD kids. I am hoping that you will consider donating items to raffle, items for our guests, or making a donation for sponsorship. We would also love to have you as a guest! Please let me know if you would like an invitation or more information on the event. You can reach me at the number/email listed below. It would mean so much to my family and me to have representation from your organization there!
I ask that you take a look at our website www.jamesonsarmy.org or “like” us on facebook for more information on our non-profit organization and what we do!
The participation form is available here