My Brother's Heart
by
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“Bewildered and confused I tried to understand why my brother’s not home, why I can’t hold his hand.”
Comforted by family and faith, this heartfelt story is about one big sister’s journey as she learns about and wholly embraces her brother’s special heart.
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About the Book
My Brother’s Heart is a lighthearted true story based on a big sister’s perspective about her little brother’s special heart. Connor was born with an undiagnosed heart defect, hypoplastic right heart syndrome, transposition of great arteries, and a double inlet left ventricle. After more than four weeks at home with his family and loving sister, Madison, she couldn’t understand why he had to leave to have life-saving open-heart surgery.
My Brother’s Heart is the story of Madison’s experience while her baby brother, Connor, was in the hospital recovering. This triumphant and heartfelt story plays out with a miraculous ending and an unbreakable bond built by love and faith.
About the Author
Laura Rothgery has a baccalaureate degree in communications and a master’s degree in business and administration. Although she had a successful career in real estate, she willingly gave it up to rehabilitate her son and to help him recover from two open-heart surgeries in the first year of his life. While caring for her two children, the author felt a great calling to write this children’s book, as she knew there was more to be done regarding the advocacy of undiagnosed and diagnosed critical congenital heart disease (CCHD).
Empowered by the book and a duty to advocate, the author was called by a national nonprofit organization to speak, lobby, and play an instrumental role in passing Assembly Bill 1731 (AB 1731), screening for CCHD. AB 1731 was signed into law by the governor of California in 2012. This bill will soon mandate a non-invasive, painless pulse-oximeter screening test in the first twenty-four to forty-eight hours of life. This test checks oxygen saturation levels in the blood to further diagnose any CCHD before any newborn leaves the hospital.
While this bill will take effect in 2013 in California, where the author resides, it is her continued mission to write more books about the sibling perspective where she felt education for them was lacking. Laura will continue to advocate, support, and spread awareness about CCHD, a journey she believes only the Lord could have rerouted her to.