A HEART for Service

The goal of this project is to deliver one child from a third world country to the University of Michigan Medical Center’s Cardiovascular Center (UM CVC) for heart surgery. The child selected will have a heart problem that they would have eventually died from, had it not been for the surgery. This involves working with a pediatric cardiovascular surgeon at UM CVC, negotiating a cost reduction with the hospital for the surgery, raising a very large sum of money, and making all of the plans. The money raised will cover the travel for the child and his or her mother, as well as the surgery. My family plans to host the family in our home, if needed, to make sure proper follow up care is obtained. We will also provide all necessary transportation. To raise the required funds (about $35,000) a number of fundraisers will be conducted. In doing this, I plan to recruit many people to help meet the goal. I hope to inspire them in order to increase the impact. I want them to take ownership and to get as excited as I am! It is important to me to start something like this so people can see it IS possible to do something as big as saving the life of a child. I hope to inspire more people to have a “Heart for Service” and to see nothing is too big if you are determined. The days of relying on government to fix everything for all of us are over. It is we the people that can make the positive differences that are needed in this world. I have a schedule and a list of who is helping and how. I will update my plan of action as the project proceeds and as more people get involved.