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From the heart Parents of Anabel Brost, a nine-month-old with half a heart, plan to have fundraising booth, silent auction at Folk on the Rocks
Candace Thomson
Northern News Services
Published Friday, July 19, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Folk on the Rocks organizers have given a free pass for the parents of a young girl with half a heart to help them raise awareness of her condition.
Trisha and Matthew Brost will be hosting a booth at Folk on the Rocks to raise money for their daughter Anabel, nine months, center, for medical expenses, and to raise awareness about prenatal heart conditions. - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo |
The family will be setting up a booth which will host a silent auction, featuring goods donated by local businesses.
"We're just looking to raise awareness about children with heart defects," said Trish Brost, the mother of young Anabel. "And any proceeds we make will be going towards Anabel."
For concert-goers looking to take part in the silent auction, the Brosts will have a large tent canopy and posters with Anabel's name.
Auction winners will be announced on Sunday and will be told where to come and pick up the items, said Trish.
Matthew Brost, Anabel's father, hopes the booth will encourage parents who might eventually have to cope with a child having prenatal heart conditions.
"What we learned was to go with your gut and your heart," he said. "Parents need to know not to give up. We didn't, and Anabel beat the odds."
Anabel was born nine months ago along with her twin sister Aryana - but Anabel only had half a heart, and no spleen.
Doctors didn't expect her to survive, but her parents were determined that their girl would survive.
"Doctors are trained to speak in terms of statistics and numbers," said Matthew. "But Anabel was so much more than that."
In her short life, Anabel has already gone through two surgeries, one to repair the misplaced arteries in her heart and another to place a shunt. Her parents expect her to have a heart transplant by the time she is five.
Anabel is on the national list waiting for a heart and is high-priority, so doctors and her parents are optimistic she will get the operation.
In the meantime, Anabel takes five different medicines, three times a day, which is nothing compared to earlier in her life, said her mother.
Travelling to Edmonton for check ups and operations gets expensive, and the Brosts are operating on a single income since Trish stays home with the twins.
The Brosts have been trying to raise awareness on prenatal heart conditions with a bracelet campaign started by Anabel's grandparents in Saskatchewan.
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