Letter to the Editor:

I want to thank the Port Clinton City Council and the Ottawa County Commissioners for for proclaiming the week of Feb. 7-14 as the Conquering Congenital Heart Defect Week throughout Ottawa County. Heart ailments are among city and county’s most common birth defects and are the leading cause of infant mortality.

CHD is a malformation in the heart muscle present at birth. Two million Americans are living with CHDs. Each year 40,000 more U.S. babies will be born with CHDs, and 8,000 of them will not live to see their first birthday. CHD is the most common and most lethal birth defect both in the USA and throughout the world. Twice as many children die from CHDs each year than all forms of childhood cancer combined.

There are more than 40 different types of CHDs. Little is known about the cause of most of them. There is no known prevention or cure for any of them. Congenital Heart Defects are common and deadly, yet CHD research is grossly under-funded relative to the prevalence of the disease.

Rob Constien, Port Clinton