Who is Eric Ankerud? Why would someone want to start a nonprofit organization to help the congenital heart defect community? What services does Heartfelt Dreams Foundation provide?

Eric Ankerud’s wife, Lori, was born in 1958 with a serious heart defect called 'tetralogy of Fallot.' Lori was known as a “blue baby,” and she had a ventricular septal defect or “hole in her heart. Her first open-heart surgery was a Blalock-Taussig shunt at the age of 2. At 3, her ventricular septal defect was closed and her pulmonary artery was repaired, which allowed her to have more normal blood flow to the lungs.

While Lori’s early childhood was fraught with heart procedures and doctor’s visits, it was also filled with the love of family and opportunities for her artistic abilities to blossom.

Lori and Eric married in 1985. They have two adult children. Although Lori has needed follow-up care including major heart reconstructive surgery, she has led a great quality of life. She and her husband felt inspired to start a nonprofit organization to help others in the CHD community.

In this episode of "Heart to Heart with Anna," Eric shares with Anna how his wife's congenital heart defect (CHD) journey has helped them to understand the needs of the CHD community and what their nonprofit is doing to help fill the needs they have witnessed over the course of their lives together.

To learn more about Eric and Lori's nonprofit organization, use this link: https://www.heartfeltdreamsfoundation.org/

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