Have a Huge Heart

When we were in high school, one of our best friends Jon Kirk was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, an enlargement of the heart that can be deadly if left undetected. Sports fans will recall seemingly invincible superstar athletes such as Reggie Lewis and Hank Gathers passing away abruptly. They had cardiomyopathy.

Recently Jon was told that he would need to undergo a procedure to get a defibrillator implanted to help monitor his condition. Rather than feeling sorry for himself, Jon decided that he wanted to spread awareness of cardiomyopathy by telling his story and providing resources and support for those living with cardiomyopathy.

So with the help of Mike Li, his brother Sam for the logo, and myself, Jon recently launched HugeHeart.org to help tell the world about his disease, in hopes that more people will get checked and have cardiomyopathy caught before it's too late. While the small site we put up is just a start (Jon plans to start support groups across the country, do fundraising to help spread awareness, and much more), it's a great resource for a relatively unknown condition, highlighted by Jon's blog. His first post yesterday included:

In two weeks I am going to get my defibrillator implanted in my left shoulder-this is a major change in my life-I believe that blogging about such an experience can help me and someone else cope with receiving an ICD and living with this disease. Am I nervous? Yes. How nervous? Not very. I will reassure myself and everyone else that this procedure is very common nowadays - not as common as getting your tonsils taken out obviously, but the doctors that implant ICD's are specialists in this field. I am nervous because I have never had a serious surgery before.

If you get a chance, check out Huge Heart and Jon's blog. And please keep him in your thoughts and prayers over the next few weeks.