Trauma and loss can bring a community together. When our son endured unexpected complications from his heart surgery at The University of Virginia Medical Center, we made new friends with other CHD families and patients. One CHD family we met was the Blumenthal family. A beautiful heart mom, Kelly Blumenthal, is now a close friend of mine. Kelly is the mother of Finn Blumenthal, a cute little boy with the same congenital heart disease that our son had. Kelly Blumenthal showed us great compassion when we lost our son.
Kelly wanted to help us ease our grief over the holidays. In doing so, she created a new memory for us. To our surprise, she went to visit Santa. During her visit, she gave him a beautiful picture of our son. With loving eyes, Santa gazed down at his face. She took a picture of this special moment of the two of them together and gave it to us as a gift.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I can testify that this picture meant a thousand words and more. It meant the world to us. Her act of kindness was genuine and we will remember it for the rest of our lives. We are so thankful to be friends with such a compassionate person who has a heart full of love for families like ours.
She also shows compassion for many other families who have lost children to congenital heart disease. In this same way, she created new memories for many parents grieving the loss of their little ones. What a beautiful gift.
