Asher Kachura was born on New Years Eve in 2008 in Montgomery County, Maryland. He came into the world as a strong, 9lb 3oz. baby boy with lots of family and friends who were excited to meet him.
This was news that no parent can prepare themselves to hear, and was a compete shock. Stroke occurs in approximately 28 in 100,000 infants, and some studies suggest that the rate of stroke in newborns is actually double this amount.
I applied for the Start! Challenge! because of a deep commitment to work with the American Heart Association again and to change my life. I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy at age 44. I had a twin brother die of sudden death congestive heart failure at age 43. I recently lost my youngest sister the same way.
20 years ago a large percentage of children like Asher would not have survived past their first week of life. Without following the medical guidelines developed by AHA funded research; Asher’s story could be much different.
Today we CELEBRATE our Successes, and medical advancements that have been possible through research, as Asher is a healthy and happy 9 months old. He has made a wonderful recovery, remains seizure free, and because of the plasticity of the brain of a newborn, he is doing all things that he should be doing just as well as any other baby his age!
p>At the annual NICU reunion Asher’s parents learned that another newborn was in the same unit, under the same warmer, with the same diagnosis ten months after they went through this experience. It is through the good work of the all volunteers and donors who support the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association that they were able to tell the nurses to go back and tell that new family that their child was going to be okay.