Congenital Heart Defects

This len's focus is on how one person CAN make a difference .

I built this lens because of two reasons:

1) I can relate...a few years after we were first married, our two year old became quite sick with yet another ear infection, but we could not afford to buy the medicine she needed.

We are fortunate that she didn't need heart surgery, but the feeling of hopelessness, that you are not able to provide the necessary treatment, is still the same.

2) I want to support those marketers who also have a heart for others. Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian, who does life-saving heart surgery in India, is such a person.

He is one of the few internet marketers who uses his business in order to fund a charity. His main focus is on helping children who need operations to repair congenital heart defects, whose families cannot afford the cost.

More information and links about congenital heart defects, which affect 8 out of every 1000 children, can be found at http://www.squidoo.com/congenitalheartdefects/

Besides Dr. Mani, there are other entrepreneurs who build their business around their favorite cause, such as....

A local business owner who has made it his mission to help underprivileged children in Mexico. He diversified his flooring business to build recreational properties in Playa in order to help local families there.

For the past three years, he and his team have collected toys, food, clothing and blankets. Last Christmas, in 2006, they also raised $16,000 US to fund operations for children with congenital heart defects, whose families cannot afford it.

Then there are some people who just want to help, as in the following story about how ONE woman made a difference in the lives of seven children...

ONCE upon a time, not so long ago, an ordinary homemaker named, Nobody Special, looked upon the haunting eyes of a little boy staring out at her from the cover of the October issue of the New York Times.

As she read the story about this six-year-old and other child slaves, forced to get up at 4:30 a.m. , in the cold and the dark, some coughing from being sick, to begin another grueling day of fishing, while their 'master' slept comfortably, her heart wrenched with compassion.

She thought of her own six-year old. What if her son had been that child in the picture?

At first, she thought, "perhaps Someone Else will help".

Then she put the paper down and went on with her day.

However, she says "I just had this haunting that never left me," and she thought, "What if Someone Else thought that Someone Else was her?"

And if she didn't help, then who would? Or, would No One Else?

The more she thought about it, the more restless she felt, and so, finally, she gave in to her maternal instinct to help, plus she remembered how it felt to lose a child herself, a son seven years earlier from an undetected heart defect.

She phoned the reporter, who gave her the contact in Ghana.

She rallied her Friends, Family and Others to help in the cause to "Free the Fishing Children".

As a result, seven more children were set free and now are thriving at the Village of Hope Orphanage.

Mark, the little boy in the picture, was one of those children.

Oprah Winfrey, a popular talk show host, asked her, what made her help? Why her, and No One Else?

She replied, "I'm Nobody Special, but I wanted to do something to help."

"There's nothing more exciting than to think you're changing somebody's life,"she says.

Yes, ONE person CAN make a difference. Just start where you are!

If you feel your heart tugging, listen to it and donate. Even $5 will make a difference.

On Valentine's Day, have a heart for Dr. Mani's 'children' at http://www.chdinfo.com/chdaware/donate.htm