1 in 100 newborns are born with a form of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD). Marshall is an early education student at HBRES and was born with a complex form of CHD. Marshall was born with a condition called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Essentially what that means is that Marshall was born with only half of his heart developed and needed surgical intervention. Marshall has had 4 open heart surgeries, spent more than 100 days in the hospital and was listed for a heart transplant in November of 2021. Marshall is currently lucky enough to be listed 1B which means that he and his family are able to stay home and be closely monitored as outpatient by the transplant team at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. Marshall has a 3% chance of getting a heart while waiting at home but if his condition changes at any point then he would be able to go into the hospital and wait while listed as urgent need or 1A status. Currently Marshall is doing very well waiting for his new heart at home; he loves going to school, playing with his big sister Carolynn, and anything Thomas the Train or Cars.
If you are looking to donate to help families with CHD please consider donating to CCU Parent Support - Some Assembly Required. Marshall’s mom and a few other heart moms help run this nonprofit organization established to assist families with children in Cardiac Intensive Care Units (CCU) by alleviating the financial burden of parking fees. Average parking fees per day at Lurie’s is between $11-15 a day and the average length of stay in a pediatric cardiac intensive care unit is 35 days. Many families are often there longer awaiting a heart transplant or recovering from multiple open heart surgeries... 
https://www.someassemblyrequiredccu.org/
~ Jessica Stadie (mom of Marshall and co founder of Some Assembly Required)
As we kick off Heart Month here at HBRES, our nurses, Emily and Abby, are making their way into all of the classrooms to teach our students ways to keep their hearts healthy. Every day in February will be accompanied by a random heart fact during announcements and every student will get the opportunity to pledge to keep his/her heart healthy. We will display our pledges in the cafeteria all heart month long!