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.

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 several 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:

• Carepages
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Personal webpage