A practical handbook for parents...

For the past 25 years the Heart Children book has guided parents and families through the heart conditions that children may be born with or acquire, the treatments available, and how to deal with the many medical and social problems that they may have to face.

Our fourth edition of Heart Children, launched in December 2009, has attempted to keep pace with the many innovations in the field of pediatric cardiology.

The book is available from the office at a cost of £11.50 plus post & packing (£1.50p UK). Shipping abroad available on request.

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About this Book

The discovery that your child has a heart defect can be a very scary experience. It is at this time, following diagnosis, that parents experience feelings of shock, panic and stomach-churning anxiety. The alarming high-tech medical world into which the family is catapulted often causes further fright.

Although doctors and nurses do their best to describe matters, heart conditions are often so complicated and the surgical procedures so technical, that parents, in the first shock of diagnosis, often go away with an incomplete or erroneous picture of what is to happen.

Of course ignorance breeds fear as unanswered questions emerge. Parents have enough to cope with at this time without taking on needless anxiety. Many other questions arise as your child goes through the process of hospitalisation, tests and surgery, so the second aim of the book is to provide a little comfort here, in giving some gentle explanations and sharing experiences.

Finally, the advancing techniques of paediatric cardiology have enabled many children to survive who would not have done so even 30 years ago. So now, many parents are encountering for the first time the joyful problems of dealing with schooling, physical ability, suitable careers, holidays (flying and travel abroad), driving, insurance, genetic counselling, contraception, marriage, mortgages and a thousand and one situations which are hardly noticed by 'ordinary families'. These produce questions for the family of a child with a heart problem and many of these topics are addressed in these pages.

Understanding the heart. Prenatal diagnosis. Diagnosing your child, tests, echocardiagraphy, cardiac catheterisation and the latest procedures explained. Heart problem described. Treatments available. What to tell your children. Surgery and heart transplantation. Everyday life with your 'heart' child. Answers to questions most often asked. Reactions, coping with feelings and relationships. Bereavement. Benefits and welfare help. Medicines explained. List of support organisations. Recommended reading list. Glossary of medical terms for parents.

Foreign language versions of Heart Children handbook

We have published Heart Children in 7 languages: Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali and Italian on the internet at our dedicated website. However, this is in Version 3 only.The translations are a valuable asset to cardiologists and cardiac nurses and also to general practitioners and community nurses who are responsible for communicating this complex subject to parents from minority groups. This is of tremendous benefit to parents who do not speak English and to parents who speak English as a second language.

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