Giving Back, Paying Forward: Long Branch Woman Collecting Blankets For Tiny Heart Patients

Collection site located in Long Branch, throughout Monmouth County

Christopher Olivadotti was just 2 days old when he had his first open heart surgery. There would be three more before he was out of toddlerhood. Christopher is a survivor. He’s now 9 years old — one of the lucky ones who survived a complex and rare heart defect called Right Hypoplastic Right Heart syndrome, a condition where the right side of the heart is underdeveloped. There is a small tribute to his strength that lays at the foot of his bed, his mother says. It’s a quilt, a small hand-made token of admiration from a stranger moved to acknowledge the fight for a lifetime undertaken by an infant she, or he, had never met. The blanket was given to Christopher upon leaving the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where the young boy …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)