The leading cause of infant death in Australia is congenital heart disease. In fact, there are more babies in our neonatal ICU wards being treated for heart defects than for any other condition.

The term ‘congenital heart disease’ covers a wide range of conditions in children, including those once referred to by the terms “blue baby” and “hole in the heart”. Children are also susceptible to acquiring other heart conditions like rheumatic fever and Kawasaki’s Disease.

About 32,000 Australians under the age of 18 live with CHD, and approximately half of children require surgery to correct the defect. For their parents, it's incredibly traumatic. All they can do is be brave, for their babies’ sakes.

Recently, the project’s Dani Isdale spent time with some of these remarkable mums, and one in particular - Amy Gill, who just took part in the 1-kilometre ocean swim at the Sydney Morning Herald Cole Classic to raise much-needed funds for Heart Kids Australia.

Heart Kids provides support, encouragement and hope to families of children with Heart Disease, while raising awareness of the conditions and vital funding into the causes of this chronic disease.

Amy says that she wants to give something back to the charity that helped their family so much when they lost their little girl to a heart condition. She was just 24 days old. To date, Amy has exceeded her original target of $500, raising $1220 and counting. For Amy, this is not only a personal challenge, but a way of giving back to a charity that was so supportive during the birth and death of her own ‘heart kid’.

February is International CHD Awareness Month, and while many people will mark February 14th as St Valentine’s Day, it’s also International CHD Awareness Day, so why not donate to HeartKids instead of buying those roses?