Probably the most fearsome diagnosis any of us could receive would be that of heart disease. There are a multitude of reasons for this fear. The main reason is that we only have one. With some other organs, such as the kidneys, lungs, or eyes, there is a duplicate which can take up the slack if one fails. Such is not the case with the heart; we only get one, and if it fails the future looks pretty grim.
For those of us who are parents, our children are our greatest joy. If you ask any parent what the defining moment of their life was, the overwhelming majority will include the birth of their children somewhere in their response. Because this bond between parent and child is so strong, having a child born with a serious medical condition is one of the most difficult situations any parent can face.
Austin was voted the 2nd Best Big City in “Best Places to live” by Money Magazine. With a population of 790,390 (2010 U.S. Census,) the city current has approximately 25,570 listed as having a disability, 18.9% percent of the total population, and of that approximately 49% are currently not in the workforce. Approximately 43 % applying for disability are approved from the initial application stage; however, only 20% will be awarded benefits during the first reconsideration (or appeal) level.
The greater Jacksonville Metropolitan area, a region with a population of more than 1,313,228, is the largest city in the state of Florida in terms of both population and land area. Jacksonville is also the largest city by geographic area in the United States. Florida, otherwise known as the “Sunshine State’ ranks third in total population receiving benefits from the Social Security Association (SSA), behind California and New York -- approximately 15.6% of the entire population.
Indianapolis is also one of the fastest growing regions in the United States, and the most populous state capital east of the Mississippi River. It is Indiana's largest city, and boasts a population of 829,718. In the state of Indiana, it is estimated that approximately 914,000 people have a form of disability, of that, around 35,000 people with disabilities in the state are unemployed (or seeking work), and 265,000 with a disability are not in the workforce.
The City of San Francisco, houses the financial and cultural center of the Bay Area. The region is composed of 7.15 million people, and county lines also include the largely populous cities of San Jose and Oakland - the only consolidated city-county in California. San Francisco is the 13th most populous city in the United States, with a population of 805,235 (2010 Census), approximately 12.3% of this area is listed as having a disability, slightly more than the 10.2% listed in the entire state of California.
Detroit City’s famed metonyms, Motor City and Motown, have a history that fuels the reputation as the heart American automobile industry and source of the popular music genre. Within Metro Detroit, the U.S. Census Bureau reported a population of 4,296,250, making it the eleventh-largest city in the United States.
It would be a monumental understatement to say that the human heart is an amazing organ. Constructed almost entirely of muscle, the heart pumps oxygenated blood throughout the body. After delivering the oxygen, the blood returns to the heart, where it is pumped to the lungs to be re-oxygenated. It then returns to the heart, where the process continues. Keep in mind that this is all happening simultaneously, and is all accomplished through a series of finely-timed contractions working in concert with each other.
Beating more than 100,000 times every day, the human heart is a miraculous organ. Made almost entirely of muscle tissue, the different sections of the heart fill with blood and then contract in perfect synchronicity, moving oxygen-rich blood throughout the body to deliver the oxygen to the rest of the body. Simultaneously, the blood which has already delivered its cargo of oxygen is returned to the heart, routed to the lungs to be re-oxygenated, and then back to the heart to be circulated again and again.
One of the most harrowing experiences new parents can have is to find out that their child has been born with a congenital birth defect. Even worse is the possibility that this defect could potentially be life-threatening. Sometimes having a perfectly healthy newborn can be stressful; having a little one who enters the world multiplies that stress exponentially.
