Hayden's Heart: hayden's heart + sevenly

Hayden's Heart was chosen to partner with a company called Sevenly!!! If you are unaware of who they are and what they do, you can follow them on facebook or read more about them on their website. In short, this company designs apparel for a chosen charity that they feature for seven days and for every item purchased during those seven days, they donate $7 to the charity. We have been in talks with them for a few months and typically they choose organizations that are much larger than we currently are, but like all of you, also fell in love with Hayden and his story and our mission to help other heart families like our own. I am so pleased and honored to announce that Sevenly is campaigning for us this week! Feb 9-15- which is also in the midst of Heart Awareness week! Such a PERFECT fit!!!

Please take a moment to check out the designs they have created for us and for Heart Awareness and consider purchasing these once in a lifetime designs (only available this week!!) to support Hayden's Heart and raise CHD awareness! Please also share this campaign with your friends and family- the more we share, the more successful this will be! Let's show Sevenly they made the right choice in partnering with us and show them how dedicated Hayden's followers are!

Below is the shirts Sevenly designed for our campaign. Their inspiration comes from our website, our blog, facebook, and overall research on CHD and heart kids as a whole.

I had an opportunity to speak with one of the designers and got some insight on where they came up with these unique and abstract ways of spreading awareness and love for CHD and Hayden's Heart.

The Heart Dreamcatcher:

Every child has dreams- dreams of what they want to be when they grow up, who they want to meet, what they will get for Christmas- childrens' dreams are endless and every child deserves the chance to dream- even babies and children with Congenital Heart Defects. These children are fighting a life long battle and even though at times as parents we wonder how long they will be able to fight- they deserve to dream through it. They deserve to live a life- no matter how long it is- that is full of dreams- of if they will be a fire fighter or a ninja turtle when they grow up- dreams of water parks and sandcastles over summer vacation, dreams of the princesses and video games that Santa will bring them for Christmas this year. This shirt represents all of the heart babies and children fighting hard through it all...and still being able to dream....

'Courage is Already in You'- When reading about Hayden and other heart warriors- a common phrase or nickname heard is 'warrior'. Our babies and children effected with a CHD are literally fighting a battle for their life on sometimes a daily basis. They are heart warriors and anyone who has seen one fight will tell you they give all they have and then some to win their battle- to be a warrior and beat the CHD odds. They need the courage in them to get there- and oh it is so there with these babies and children. 'the courage is already in you'...way more than any of us heart parents ever wanted you to need it- you already have it in you...

'LOVE'- there are two shirts labeled with LOVE for our campaign- but for several reasons. First, it is CHD Awareness week and Heart Awareness Month and when you think of a heart, you think of LOVE. And its Valentines Day! LOVE is all over that Holiday!

But my favorite reasons for the shirts saying LOVE go deeper than either of those two meanings. If you've ever had the pleasure of meeting Hayden- or any other heart child for that matter- you can see the LOVE in their face- in their eyes and smile. These kids LOVE life like nothing I have ever seen. Most of them do not have what we would call an easy life- but they really don't know the difference. They don't know that it's not the norm to have a huge scar down your chest- or a feeding tube through their stomach- or a nurse poking at them 5+ times to try and draw some blood. What they do know is that they are surrounded by such intense LOVE that they exude it. You cant help but fall in LOVE with a heart baby- its just something about those kiddos that just captivates you. And I know with most of you, I am preaching to the choir- as so many of you never even met our Hayden- but you too fell in LOVE with that smile, those eyes- that face- who just found a way to LOVE this life he was living- and I know its because he felt the LOVE that was being sent to him from all over this world. Thank you for loving him...