HEART WARRIORS A Family Faces Congenital Heart Disease by Amanda Rose Adams
Trade Paperback	5 ½ x 8 ½	Non-fiction - Memoir
Release date: April 2012	$16.95	ISBN:9781933016-80-1
	300 pps

Five months pregnant, Amanda Adams was told her baby was missing half his heart and given two abysmal choices regarding her pregnancy: force her baby to fight for his life, or perform a late term abortion. Despite the fact that Liam's odds of death were high and his odds of suffering were absolute, Amanda chose life.

Doctors warned that the consequences of not walking away were to subjugate Liam to violent and dangerous surgeries. But Amanda couldn't walk away, and she endured the emotional toll through twelve heart surgeries, each time taking Liam to the brink of death.

Amanda's emotional plate was full as she found herself redefining the usual expectations a mother has for her child. Instead of wondering where he'd go to college, she was asking, "Will he even survive past his first birthday?" That question hung heavily on Amanda's soul, which she termed "anticipatory grief." The anger and eventual acceptance of her grief helped her accept her new role as a powerful advocate.

At eight years old, Liam's small chest is lined with scars, yet they tell a story of a boy who is mature beyond his years and is aware of his tentative, yet promising, future.

Reviews and Accolades

Anyone who has ever suffered grief, in any form, will benefit from this passionately honest book. Grief is Amanda Adams' constant companion, both her oppressor and her guide, as she gropes her way through a heart-rending experience. Even if we never have to walk a path this harrowing, her journey has something to teach all of us about finding wholeness when everything seems broken.
~ Kristin Henderson, author of While They're at War: The True Story of American Families on the Homefront

About the Author

Amanda Adams is a "Heart Mom" and a powerful voice within the CHD community by working closely with cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, and nurses from Harvard University, Baylor University, University of Southern California, University of Illinois, and CU Boulder Medical. She founded two 501 c3 nonprofit organizations for CHD, organizes medical conferences for Hypoplastic Right Hearts, attends medical advisory board meetings and national chapter presidents meetings for the Children's Heart Foundation, and chaired the Congenital Heart Walk in Colorado. As a pioneer of CHD advocacy, she is also firmly rooted in the social network of CHD parents and survivors.