This is me with my son Joel at our favourite holiday spot Siesta Park.

About Me

 My name is Debbie and I'm a stay at home mother of 3, although I could say 4 as we also have another member in our family a dog called Rusty. I have been married for 22 years to David and my children are Mathew 21, Jessica 19 and Joel 7, yes he was surprise to us too!

June 2000 bought news to our family that tore at our hearts and bought much pain and many tears.  My sister Joanne and husband Pete were told their much longed for unborn baby had a heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and without surgery he would die within a short time after birth.  It's a long story but one which shook us and at the same time drew us together. 

I was so disappointed in the information first given to my sister and to know that others would be affected the same way saw me burdened with what to do.  One of the things we found of most value was sharing with families that had gone before us, to know how their children were doing,  what was their quality of life if given the surgery needed to save their lives.  It took several weeks to find another family within  Australia that had a child with HLHS, we were so excited as we began to think there were not any survivors in Australia.

So I decided to try and make a web page, I had no idea what I was doing and up until that point had to get my teenagers advice on how to send an email!  My husband and I spent many long hours trying to figure it out as we at that point didn't have a program to help us and so our first page was rather different to the ones we have now.  I guess for me making Hearts of Hope enables me to feel useful about a nightmare of a condition that I have absolutely no control over.  When making James original page I struggled with the thoughts that he may not live to see it finished and I really called out to God that I couldn't do it.  I heard that still small voice and he spoke to my heart "do it because of James" and not "for James" and so I did.  At the time of writing this we have 28 Australian families now listed and several overseas families also.  It is my heart felt prayer that perhaps through my family's experience with HLHS that  we might be able to support or encourage others in the future.  It's not easy as we have become a close group and we have had to support each other through a lot of tough times but we have also shared in the joy of seeing miracles happen.

I have also become a member of "HeartKids" in Victoria and West Australia and they have been a great support to us over the past 2 years.  It's been an incredible journey so far and these special children bring such gratefulness into my own heart as I'm overwhelmed by their zest for life and their courage in overcoming such huge odds.  I have also met via the web many brave parents that have endured the loss of their babies and have found strength and purpose in their grief as they have gone on to use their own experience to comfort others so I have been very blessed to share with them.

And so I hope that our web site will help in some small way to help raise awareness within our country for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.

 My Family

Just had to add this little bear as I have a niece that loves to dance special thanks to Anna for allowing me to adopt her and to Mary who designed her.