CHERUBS New Family Assistance Fund

CDH Family Assistance Fund – A majority of this fund will go to help families with travel expenses such as airline tickets and gas. It will not go to lodging because CHERUBS highly recommends the *free* lodging available at Ronald McDonald Houses. Families will submit confidential applications to assistance and a committee will consider each request.

Our goal is to make sure that all CDH families can afford to get to their cherub’s medical center and have a place to stay so that they can concentrate on their children instead of travel worries. We hope to assist a family through this fund by this fall.

The remaining small percentage of this fund will go to Gabe’s Gifts, a new program that helps new and expectant families by supplying them with items needed. This project will start by September, 2009!

• $20 can cover 1 gift bag for a CDH family from Gabe's Gifts
  
• $20 can cover 1 family's gas for a day
  
• $50 will cover a gas card for a family going back and forth to the hospital
  
• $500 can cover a plane ticket for 1 family member

What is CDH?

Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) occurs in approximately 1 in every 2,500 births (1,600 cases in the U.S. each year). The cause of CDH is not yet known. The diaphragm is formed in the first trimester of pregnancy and controls the lungs' ability to inhale and exhale. CDH occurs when the diaphragm fails to form or to close totally and an opening allows abdominal organs into the chest cavity. This inhibits lung growth.

Every patient diagnosed with CDH is different. Survival rates depend on the types and number of organs involved in the herniation and the amount of lung tissue available. There are many surgical procedures and complications that may or may not occur with each individual, including in utero surgery.

Roughly 50% of babies born with CDH do not survive. Of the 50% that do survive, most will endure long hospital stays, feeding issues, asthma and other problems. A few of the survivors suffer from severe long-term medical issues.

CDH occurs as frequently as Spina Bifida and Cystic Fibrosis, yet there is very little research being done and virtually no media coverage.

http://www.firstgiving.com/cdhfamilyassistancefund