You see my FNC colleague Bret Baier every night on Special Report at 6pm eastern...but do you know what he does when he is not on air? Yes, he is a loving father and husband....but there is more: he is a great guy devoted to helping children. His own son had a rough start in life and, while it was rough on Bret and his family, it turned out to be great fortune for other families with sick children. Why? Because Bret saw how much help he could give to others and he spends much of his time helping those families...check out what Bret is doing Saturday, August 15 in Chicago:
Dear Bret,
After reading the story of your son Paul in People Magazine, I felt like I was reading the story of my little Joshua. They are almost identical… Happy birth, a few hours later devastating news, then followed multiple heart surgeries due to Severe Complex Congenital Heart Defects…
My dear sweet, incredible little Joshua Bennett Paul had his third open-heart surgery, ‘The Fontan’ on this last June 10th . As you well know, it has been a very scary & humbling journey that makes you realize what is really important in life – not that we ever took much for granted. We realized after Joshua’s 2nd surgery (at 3 moths old) that if it had been Brian (my husband) or I thirty years ago, born with the same defects as our Joshua, we would have never survived as Joshua’s heart surgeries are a direct result of ongoing research in more recent times We felt compelled to do something – anything to feel a little less helpless, a little less hopeless and more empowered to change the future of what can be. His heart surgeons (at Children’s Memorial in Chicago) told us that there was a dyer need to fund Congenital Heart Defect Research – that “young hungry researchers did not yet qualify Government funding because they did not have enough monies to beef up their revolutionary proposal”… So we started the Saving tiny Hearts Society’s to raise money for grossly under-funded, crucial, life-saving research of congenital heart defects.
In under just over 2 years, we have raised in excess of $220,000 and funded 2 projects (getting ready to fund the 3rd). I know that you have a lot on your plate too with your family and wanted to write to you to ask if you would be interested in being the Emcee at the Saving tiny Hearts Society’s Fourth Annual Saving tiny Hearts Gala to be held on Saturday, August 15th 2009 at The Hyatt Regency Chicago. ....
Best Wishes,
Francie Paul
PS. Parade Magazine just wrote a very nice article about our organization and story (which came out last Sunday -http://www.parade.com/health/2009/02/pauls-saving-tiny-hearts.html) that gives a pretty good overview of our story (should you have time to read it)… Please visit our website as well to learn more about us (www.savingtinyhearts.org). I have also attached our latest newsletter for you as wellJ
