Hope for Hearts: help make a moment happen
Arezo holds a black-belt in taekwondo. She enjoys running and recently began to pursue weight-lifting. She also enjoys the performing arts and will be taking part in her school’s rendition of the Broadway show Beauty and the Beast this year. These are all moments that Arezo may never have been able to achieve had it not been for the team of doctors in the Echocardiography laboratory at SickKids.Shortly after birth, Arezo was diagnosed with a rare heart defect called Congenitally Corrected Transposition of the Great Arteries with Ventricular Septal Defect, Dextrocardia and Bilateral Superior Vena Cava.
“I know, it’s a lot, right?” says Arezo with a little laugh. “In other words, it means the left and right side of my heart was reversed.”
Arezo underwent a number of surgeries and procedures to rearrange her veins and arteries to help her heart work properly.
Today, Arezo says she feels great. “My yearly follow-ups have been going great and it’s a huge relief to hear that everything’s going smoothly.”
Thanks to the work performed in the Echocardiography lab, Arezo was able to take part in taekwondo beginning in first grade. Many members of her family trained in taekwondo and she naturally followed in their footsteps. As she got older, her cousins and uncles would attend tournaments, but she was advised against it because of the potential risk. So instead, she started training two hours a day to develop her skills to achieve her black belt.
“I was so frustrated that I wasn’t able to compete, so I started to train really hard instead. It was so fulfilling to see the progress I made over time.”
After taekwondo, her dad suggested she try pursuing something new. Her older brother, who has always been a big support system for her, had begun getting into weight-lifting, so she asked him to teach her everything about it.
“Thanks to the doctors and staff at SickKids, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what I have or experience what I have without them,” said Arezo. “I am so grateful for what they have done for me.”
In order to help kids like Arezo keep living the best quality of life they can after being diagnosed with a heart defect, more research is needed to not only help these kids live longer, but to diagnose them as early as possible.
That is where Dr. Barbara Cifra and Dr. Luc Mertens come in. In 2015, the pair decided to volunteer their time to develop a fundraiser, Hope for Hearts, in support of heart research performed in the echocardiography laboratory at The Hospital for Sick Children.
Dr. Cifra and Dr. Mertens are passionate about the work they do and even more passionate about the impact they know they can have on children with heart abnormalities. They have the ideas … they just lack the resources. And they hope fundraisers like the Hope for Hearts gala can help them turn those ideas into reality.
On Friday, June 10, the second annual Hope for Hearts gala will take place at The Granite Club in Toronto. Dr. Cifra and Dr. Mertens are once again volunteering their time and are grateful for the added assistance and passionate support of Dr. Lynne Nield and Nene Brode (of Ryerson University).
To purchase your tickets to the gala, please visit the Hope for Hearts website. If you are unable to attend the event but would still like to provide your support, please donate through the Hope for Hearts fundraising page. Donations will help the echocardiography lab advance its research.
“I am someone who believes that you need to live in the moment because you never know where life will take you,” says Arezo. “SickKids has done so much for me and for other kids like me. Without the doctors and the research, I wouldn’t have been able to lead a normal life. I hope you’ll come out to support Hope for Hearts on June 10 so that SickKids can continue to help kids like me.”
“I was so frustrated that I wasn’t able to compete, so I started to train really hard instead. It was so fulfilling to see the progress I made over time.”
After taekwondo, her dad suggested she try pursuing something new. Her older brother, who has always been a big support system for her, had begun getting into weight-lifting, so she asked him to teach her everything about it.
...more research is needed to not only help these kids live longer, but to diagnose them as early as possible.
In order to help kids like Arezo keep living the best quality of life they can after being diagnosed with a heart defect, more research is needed to not only help these kids live longer, but to diagnose them as early as possible.
That is where Dr. Barbara Cifra and Dr. Luc Mertens come in. In 2015, the pair decided to volunteer their time to develop a fundraiser, Hope for Hearts, in support of heart research performed in the echocardiography laboratory at The Hospital for Sick Children.
Dr. Cifra and Dr. Mertens are passionate about the work they do and even more passionate about the impact they know they can have on children with heart abnormalities. They have the ideas … they just lack the resources. And they hope fundraisers like the Hope for Hearts gala can help them turn those ideas into reality.
On Friday, June 10, the second annual Hope for Hearts gala will take place at The Granite Club in Toronto. Dr. Cifra and Dr. Mertens are once again volunteering their time and are grateful for the added assistance and passionate support of Dr. Lynne Nield and Nene Brode (of Ryerson University).
To purchase your tickets to the gala, please visit the Hope for Hearts website. If you are unable to attend the event but would still like to provide your support, please donate through the Hope for Hearts fundraising page. Donations will help the echocardiography lab advance its research.
“I am someone who believes that you need to live in the moment because you never know where life will take you,” says Arezo. “SickKids has done so much for me and for other kids like me. Without the doctors and the research, I wouldn’t have been able to lead a normal life. I hope you’ll come out to support Hope for Hearts on June 10 so that SickKids can continue to help kids like me.”
