Sunday, August 30, 2009

Hello!

Hi All!

Well, my name is Lauren Marie Real and it's my birthday!!! I'm 18 today, and I thought I'd get involved blogging, mostly to maybe be a beacon of support for the CDH community. CDH stands for Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia and it is a very serious birth defect, and those who have fought through are lucky to be alive, because unfortunately, CDH takes the lives of so many beautiful babies each year.

I am happily reporting that I was born with LCDH, so a deformed diaphragm, on my left side, and survived, and living a happy wonderful life!!! Recently, I won a scholarship (money for college!) from "Breath of Hope" which is a CDH awareness group, and through this group met an inspiring family, and a beautiful baby, Nayeli, who has faced the same struggle. They really made me reflect on how lucky I am to have my health, and how many families are struggling with this. I decided I should finally get on this blogger, and get my name out there and offer support to family of babies that have been diagnosed with this condition. I have a lot of admiration to both the babies and their loved ones for being so strong through this difficult process.

If there is anyone that would like to ask questions, or would just like me to listen, I would love to be of any help I can be. I'll hopefully get to check this blog a few times a week, and I can share some of my experience and maybe some positive information that can help people through this!!! You guys are my heroes that are fighting this condition, and raising awareness.

Pass my name along to all who need something to look forward too, my family and I have been healthy, happy and now I want to share hope with all, everything will be okay.

Lots of Love,
Lauren