Happy Holidays From Team HLHS!

Dec 23, 2014 | Suzanne Ferguson | @suzannerferguson

The holidays are always a busy time - checking items off our lists and rushing around to get things done. In the midst of this hustle and bustle, we’d like to a take moment to pause and reflect back on the wonderful year it has been.

With the ongoing dedication from our team members, supporters and people like you, we have continued to make advances in HLHS research over the past year. Significant among these is the breakthrough stem cell treatment for HLHS pati ents.

We remain dedicated to spreading HLHS awareness and have continued to seek new ways to share this important work with others. Our fun and extremely successful Feel the Beat event brought together families from all over the country to share stories and learn more about what we are doing at Mayo Clinic. We are also taking the HLHS message to social media, including Twitter. (Are you following us yet? Find us @MayoClinicHLHS.) In addition, we had the honor of sitting down with some of our HLHS patients and bringing their stories right to you to help spread hope, awareness, and inspiration.

We have bridged new partnerships and look forward to where those will take us in the future. We were thrilled to give one lucky family tickets to a Carolina Panthers and Minnesota Vikings game donated by Carolina Panthers’ Greg Olsen. Don’t forget to read all about the game day experience!

Thanks to each and every one of you who made 2014 such a promising and hopeful year at the Todd and Karen Wanek Family Program for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. We wish you a safe, healthy and happy holiday season.

The Todd and Karen Wanek Family Program for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) is a collaborative network of specialists bonded by the vision of delaying or preventing heart failure for individuals affected by congenital heart defects including HLHS. The specialized team is addressing the various aspects of these defects by using research and clinical strategies ranging from basic science, to diagnostic imaging to regenerative therapies.