I'm riding in the Courage Classic in July at Copper Mountain with my team, the Cardiac Climbers. As some of you may know, I work in the Cardiac ICU at Children's Hospital Colorado. We are riding to raise money for our Heart Institute at CHCO. All money raised goes directly back to projects across our department, including ChildLife for family and heart warrior psychosocial support, trainee education, and research equipment and personnel.
I am riding in honor of Lenorah, one of our heart warriors born with pulmonary atresia with an intact ventricular septum. In simple terms, Lenorah had difficulties getting blood to flow to her lungs at birth. She ultimately had a ventricular assist device implanted, which is essentially a mechanical heart that does the work for her native heart. Luckily, in December, she was granted the wonderful opportunity to receive a heart transplant. There were many uncertain days and nights spent with Lenorah, but she is now discharged from the hospital and doing well!
Thanks to Lenorah's family, especially her sweet mama, our medical/surgical team, and her organ donor, this baby girl gets another shot at life! It is such an honor to ride for her, as she is the epitome of resilience and true strength. I hope you all feel inspired by Lenorah to live life to the fullest!
I'm happy that you're here and that you get to be a part of this.
Sincerely,
Devin