Emery Funkhouser’s Kisses For Hearts
About Emery Funkhouser’s Kisses For Hearts
Emery Funkhouser was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a congenital heart defect, that required open heart surgery when she was 7 days old and another open heart surgery at 4 months. A few months before she turned 2 she received a heart transplant.
While transplant is not a cure she did have significantly improved health for 5 years. The greatest risk with a transplant is organ rejection. Unfortunately, Emery went into rejection last summer and the damage the rejection caused to her heart ultimately caused her death in September. She had just turned 7.
Emery’s story, her strength & courage have touched so many people. We want to continue her legacy and the power she had to touch people so that we may help others.
We have established the Emery Funkhouser’s Kisses For Hearts Memorial Fund to honor Emery’s legacy. Our vision is a world free of CHD. Our passion is helping other families who are faced with the uncertainty, fear & challenges of caring for a child with a CHD.
Our Mission
During our inaugural year of 2016, we will donate funds in Emery’s honor, to the Sibley Heart Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
We also have a mission to fund research that addresses serveral things:
- Causes of CHD
- Improved treatment for CHD, particularly HLHS
- Improved heart transplant outcomes
- Advances in the prevention of organ rejection
- Advances in treating Antibody Mediated Rejection
- The ability to grow a person’s heart to be used for transplant and avoid any rejection outcomes
Learn more about Emery at the following:
The above Memorial Fund is established as a division of Charitysmith Nonprofit Foundation (EIN 87-0636433). All donations are tax deductible in accordance with federal tax law. Receipts for tax purposes are sent via US Mail within two weeks of donation. Please consider asking if your employer participates in a gift-matching program. If so, your donation may be matched by your employer.
For questions regarding your donation or this memorial fund please contact CharitySmith.