Celebrating Children's Cardiomyopathy Awareness Month

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the second annual Children's Cardiomyopathy Awareness Month. Cardiomyopathy is a chronic disease of the heart muscle that affects the heart's ability to pump blood. The disease can present in different forms and may, in severe cases, lead to heart failure and/or sudden death. The goal of this Awareness Month is to provide information and resources to help identify more at-risk children to prevent sudden death.

Knowing your family cardiac history is essential to preventing premature death. There is no low-cost diagnostic test that can quickly detect all forms of cardiomyopathy. A discussion of your family's heart health with a geneticist, cardiologist or pediatrician can help assess your child's risk for cardiomyopathy.

The Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation works to raise awareness for serious cardiac conditions and provides resources and supports to families struggling with the reality of discovering that their young children have critical conditions. CCF's work to bring attention to this issue and encourage better detection, prevention, and treatment for patients is important, and I thank them for these efforts. I invite my colleagues to join me in congratulating this organization's lifesaving work.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source