HeartGift Annual Report 2022

THEIR FUTURE STARTS WITH YOU

A MESSAGE FROM LEADERSHIP

Dear Friends,

As Board Chair, it has been my privilege to further the vision of HeartGift to help as many children as possible obtain access to life-saving heart surgery. Children come to us very ill and leave with fully functioning hearts and a lifetime of opportunity ahead of them. Each story is filled with desperation as well as hope, healing, and new life.

Looking forward, we will expand HeartGift’s efforts internationally while continuing to focus on the growth of our existing chapter structure. With the ongoing support of our sponsors, partners, volunteers, as well as Foundation Board and Chapter Boards, HeartGift is ready for the challenges and achievements ahead! Thank you for your dedicated support of our mission.

Maryann G. Bell Board Chair

Dear Friends,

What a year! 2022 was pivotal! HeartGift was able to serve more children than ever before. We went from caring for 50 kids in 2021 to over 200 in one year! In addition, we continued building partnerships worldwide, provided more surgeries in multiple countries, and grew our team. Although much has evolved and changed, the core of who we are and what we do remains the same…saving children’s lives.

Our immense and successful growth in 2022 speaks to the wide variety of heroes among us doing the work each and every day. From the surgeons and medical staff who share their talents, to generous supporters and host families opening their homes for sometimes weeks at a time, everyone played an important and necessary role. And, HeartGift’s talented and insightful Foundation Board and Chapter Boards continued to push us to dig deep, work hard, be bold, and save even more lives. We have even bigger goals for the next three years and hope you will continue on this journey with us. So many children still need help.

Thank you for passionately supporting HeartGift! Your gifts make an exponential impact.

Christy Casey-Moore Chief Executive Officer

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Maryann Bell, Board Chair

Stephen Garrison, Vice Chair

Bryan Burkhart, Treasurer

Jeff Woodham, Secretary

Jessica Bess, Board Chair – San Antonio

Tim Brierty

Gillette Burns, Board Chair – Houston

Sharon Dobbs

Kristy Knippa

Claire Koch, Board Representative – Louisiana

Jan Larsen

Marye Nickens, Board Chair – Louisiana

Tish Sauerhoff

Lauren Willers

Karen L. Wright, MD, Medical Director

Frank Zidar, MD

John D. Oswalt, MD, Founder Emeritus

Ray Wilkerson, Founder Emeritus

HEARTGIFT STAFF

Christy Casey-Moore, Chief Executive Officer

Janna Altmann, Executive Director – Houston

Kimberly Atteberry, Office Manager

Stephanie Berault, Executive Director – Louisiana

Monica Bradley, Director of Accounting & Finance

Shelby Holt, Brand Manager

Kristi Jones, VP Marketing/Fund Development

Sonya Keeling, Program Manager

Deborah Perry, Public Relations / Marketing Manager

Maggie Politz, Development Specialist

Irene Turnbull-May, Executive Director – San Antonio

Amber Vrooman, Senior Development Manager

Erica Yaeger, Patient Coordinator – Louisiana

OUR MISSION

Whether bringing young patients to the United States or treating them closer to home, local medical professionals, sponsors, and volunteers are providing global impact through hope, healing, and limitless opportunities for these children.

HeartGift provides life-saving congenital heart defect surgery to children around the world where specialized medical treatment is scarce or nonexistent.

Many families search and are denied by medical organizations for one reason or another, but find hope and healing through HeartGift.

In 2022, HeartGift cared for more children in a single year than ever before. Through partnerships with children’s hospitals and humanitarian organizations in the United States and around the globe, and thanks to generous sponsors and volunteers, 216 children received life-saving care at no cost to their families.

1,000,000 CHILDREN

90% around the globe are born each year with a congenital heart defect.

do not have access to appropriate medical care.

HEARTGIFT addresses this disparity of care.

HEARTGIFT BY THE NUMBERS

OUR IMPACT

Celebrating 216 life-saving surgeries!

Whether bringing patients to the United States or treating children closer to home, HeartGift provided healing, hope, and limitless opportunities for these youngsters and their futures.

19 SURGERIES PROVIDED IN THE UNITED STATES

197 SURGERIES PROVIDED INTERNATIONALLY

Serving Children in the United States

In 2022, HeartGift continued to successfully partner with children’s hospitals in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and New Orleans who perform congenital heart defect surgeries at a very reduced rate, but ultimately free to the families we serve. Nineteen children were cared for in the U.S. where our hospital partners donate a large portion of the surgical costs as medical in-kind. Without this ongoing generosity, these surgeries would be completely unattainable.

As a result of years of dedicated strategic planning and partnerships, relationship building, and fund development, HeartGift accelerated its international efforts in 2022 and provided free heart surgeries for 197 kids around the globe.

Medical Mission Trips

HeartGift and a team of 24 medical professionals traveled to Bolivia with medications and supplies for a mission trip, the first in two years! Over the course of 10 days, 24 children from Bolivia received life-saving heart surgery at Clinica Incor in Santa Cruz.

HeartGift’s medical team also traveled to Kenya bringing life-saving heart surgery to the children in that region. During this trip, 18 children in Kenya received life-saving heart surgery at no cost to their families.

Caring for Children Closer to Home

Through partnerships around the globe, HeartGift has provided an additional 155 life-saving heart surgeries to children closer to home where appropriate surgical options exist. These partners are vetted and provide excellent medical care in regions of the world outside the U.S. The cost of each surgery internationally varies based on location and the severity of the child’s illness.

KELLY & SOFIA NICARAGUA

In 2012, 10-year-old Kelly was brought to the United States to have her congenital heart defect repaired. At three-months-old, she was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot, a deadly combination of four heart defects causing poorly oxygenated blood to flow throughout her body. She was unable to receive care to correct the rare heart condition due to the lack of access to specialized medical care in her country.

For a decade, Kelly’s mother searched for help while young Kelly struggled to breathe, endured chronic illness and failed to thrive. She was referred to HeartGift, and was accepted by the medical team to have her heart repaired in Austin through HeartGift’s partnership with Dell Children’s Medical Center. Kelly was very ill when she arrived, unable to walk more than a few steps at a time, and with lips and fingernails turning blue due to her heart defect and improper flow

of oxygen throughout her body. After just one surgery, Kelly’s heart defect was repaired completely, and she was finally able to live a healthy, normal childhood running, playing, and going to school.

Kelly eventually became a mother. Her second child, a daughter named Sofia, was born in November 2021. Shortly after birth, the baby was diagnosed with the same congenital heart defect that Kelly dealt with ten years earlier. After review by HeartGift’s medical team, Sofia was also accepted to have her heart repaired. Mom and baby arrived in Austin in October 2022 where HeartGift welcomed the next generation of this family. The second time around, the pair stayed with the same host family and worked with the same medical team at Dell Children’s Medical Center for the same corrective life-saving heart surgery. Today, both are thriving!

JOHANN, NATALIE, & SAM PHILIPPINES

The Galang Family lives in a very rural village of Cebu. In 2016, little Johann was diagnosed with ventricular septal defect – a hole between his heart’s lower chambers. The condition required costly surgical treatment not readily available. At just 10 months old, Johann was brought to the United States to receive his HeartGift and he became a new baby immediately reaching age-appropriate milestones and thriving with his newly mended heart.

For most families, the risk of having another child with a congenital heart defect is small – only three to five percent. But Johann’s sister Natalie was born in 2018 and also diagnosed with ventricular septal defect. The Galang’s quickly turned to HeartGift and Natalie received her life-saving surgery.

Unfortunately, the Galang’s story does not end there. In 2022, littlest brother Sam was born with the same

condition. HeartGift repaired his heart as well – this time in the city of Manila, through one of HeartGift’s international surgical programs. Three children, one family – a family that could have been torn apart by lifethreatening defects was instead restored by HeartGift… times three.

HANIEL CAMEROON

Little Haniel was born in Cameroon, a small country in Central Africa. Shortly after birth, his parents noticed he had blueish lips and fingers – especially when he cried – and knew something wasn’t right. The baby was diagnosed with ventricular septal defect, a hole between his heart’s lower chambers, and his body was not getting enough oxygen. Unfortunately, specialized pediatric care was not available in his very rural town or even larger cities nearby.

Haniel’s mother heard about HeartGift and reached out. After the necessary paperwork was filled out and extensive medical examinations and tests were complete, her son was accepted to come to the

United States to have his heart repaired. Despite three days of long travel, several flight cancellations and lost bags, Haniel and his father were all smiles upon arrival at San Antonio International Airport. Unfortunately, his surgery was postponed temporarily when he began to run a fever. Several weeks later, Haniel’s tiny heart was repaired at University Health in San Antonio by a group of dedicated, talented surgeons and medical professionals who volunteered their time and skills.

Haniel and his newly repaired heart returned home where he continues to steadily gain weight and grow like an active toddler walking, running, babbling, and laughing.

DASHA BOLIVIA

During her first few months of life, Dasha’s parents noticed she had difficulty breathing and was not gaining weight. She would also tire easily during feedings making it hard to gain weight. Doctors detected a heart murmur and diagnosed her with an atrial septal defect, or hole between the upper chambers of the heart. Unfortunately, local doctors in her rural area were not trained in the specialized cardiac care needed.

A few months later, Dasha and her family traveled many hours from their rural village to the larger city of Santa

Cruz where she was able to receive life-saving heart surgery during a HeartGift medical mission trip. During their 10-day trip to Bolivia, the medical team provided procedures for a total of 24 children and gave Dasha and her family hope.

Today, Dasha is growing big and strong, and meeting age-appropriate milestones thanks to her life-saving heart surgery!

LOCAL PEOPLE MAKING A GLOBAL IMPACT

Trust is at the core of HeartGift. Families must trust both the process and many people they have never met during their arduous, emotional, medical journey.

A wide variety of people in the trenches, on the ground and behind the scenes comprise HeartGift’s efforts. It’s much like a threelegged stool – none working without the other. Cardiologists, surgeons, and medical professionals share their time and talents to mend a child’s heart while committed sponsors – often giving year after year – provide ongoing financial support to HeartGift’s mission. Host families open their homes – sometimes several months at a time – to a caregiver and sick baby. They live alongside each other, eat around the table, go to doctor’s appointments. Host family siblings offer “kids being kids” afternoons filled with laughter and

fun. Lives are forever changed and deep, emotional bonds are often formed. Keeping in touch sharing photos, milestones, and birthdays continue into adulthood.

Other volunteers get creatively involved in a HeartGift child’s journey. Some paint welcome signs or create welcome backpacks filled with clothing and toys, while some take HeartGift children on special kid-friendly outings like the zoo or park. Others are deeply moved by HeartGift’s mission and take on a fundraiser to give back.

So many gifts of time, talent, and treasure. Exponential impact!

For many of the children we serve, we are their only chance. Gifts from generous sponsors make our mission possible, save lives, allow parents to know the joy of having a healthy child, and turn tragedy into triumph.

Want to get involved?

HeartGift has many opportunities available! heartgift.org

3310 W. Braker Lane

Ste 300 #704

Austin, Texas 78758

ONE GIFT. EXPONENTIAL IMPACT.