Hinsdale Magazine | Giving Back
The O’Meara family, from left to right: Liam, Brian, Bridget, Finn and Seamus
Mend A Heart Clarendon Hills family’s mission to enrich lives of children with congenital heart defects BY KERRIE KENNEDY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY HINSDALE MAGAZINE STAFF
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n 2006, Brian and Bridget O’Meara’s second son was born with a rare congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). After their son survived three difficult surgeries, these Clarendon Hills parents founded the Mend A Heart Foundation, with a goal of funding research to extend and enrich the lives of children born with congenital heart disease, as well as to raise awareness about a condition that affects one in 100 babies born in the United States. With Father’s Day on the horizon, Hinsdale Magazine sat down to speak with father of three boys, (ages 14, 12 and 10,) Brian O’Meara.
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