Heartfelt Help for a Branford Boy

Author: admin

27 Oct

Jack Hanson just turned two years old on Oct. 24 and needs to hang in there a while longer before his little body is strong enough to undergo ground-breaking open heart surgery early next year. On Nov. 5, the public’s invited to attend a craft fair fundraiser at Foxbridge Village to help defray expenses his Branford family is facing.

His mom started non-profit “Jack of All Hearts” to help children and families dealing with pediatric heart disease; now, a local non-profit wants to help little Jack Hanson and his Branford family in their time of need.

On Sat. Nov.5, “Open Your Heart, Help the Community” will host a community craft fair at Foxbridge Village Clubhouse to help raise money for Jack and his family as he prepares to undergo a ground-breaking heart surgery operation early next year.

It will be the eighth operation for Jack, who just turned two Oct. 24 and has already endured one open-heart surgery operation.

The family, including big sister Ava, moved here from Florida when Jack was an infant, to put him in the care of experts at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Mom Laura Hanson founded Jack of All Hearts that same year; running the non-profit while her husband supported the family. But a recent job loss now has both Hanson parents seeking employment while they continue to support their family and prepare to provide a critical operation for Jack.

The little guy was born with a rare congenital heart defect and this September doctors found his blood oxygen levels have dropped to a worrying percentage, nearly causing a rescheduling of the 2012 surgery to take place this month. Jack is a candidate for a recently approved FDA procedure which would allow his own bone marrow to be grafted to his heart and grow, within six months, into a new artery. Jack will be the second to undergo the surgery in the US, under surgeon Dr. Toshi Shinoka who has completed 25 operations in Japan. Alternately, if the bone marrow graft is not viable during surgery, an artificial graft would be installed.

Link to Full Article
For the full story, see the Oct. 27 issue of The Sound and go to zip06.com

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One Response for "Heartfelt Help for a Branford Boy"

Laura Hanson December 17th, 2011 at 6:15 am 1
I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to the open your heart foundation, with a very special thanks to 2 amazing women who helped my family in several ways this year! Maria Carangelo and Suzy Monaco… They are truly angelic people who mean the world to me! I can’t even begin to explain how wonderful these women are…. My promise to them is I will absolutely pay it forward when things finally turn around for my family and I. I only ask for one more thing, my son, Jack Hanson, needs as many prayers as he can get. My family and I will need prayers of strength as well. Jack will be undergoing his 2nd open heart surgery in early March. This will be his 8th total surgery and he just celebrated his 2nd birthday. He is the strongest little man I’ve ever known in my life, however he is just a little boy with a congenital heart defect. He has been battling a horrible disease since the day he was born, with no choice in the matter. Please keep my son and my family in your prayers to have a very successful surgery and recovery. Again….from the bottom of my heart, thank you all!