Local business owner Jeremy Woodward of Jeremy’s Bootcamp and Ironheart Jeremy Events knows what it’s like to endure a congenital heart defect, so when he was approached by a client to host a fundraiser for the family of Sophia Dean, a local 2-year old who is in need of a heart transplant, Woodward didn’t hesitate.
According to the GoFundMe campaign, Sophia was born with dilated cardiomyopathy. The left ventricle is enlarged, and doesn’t function effectively. The left side of her heart is in a continuous state of moderate heart failure. She is regularly on seven medications to maintain this condition.
On Feb. 15, Jeremy’s Bootcamp hosted a fundraiser for Sophia Dean: a special bootcamp class where admission was a donation, amount determined by each inpidual participant. With nearly 40 participants in the class, more than $1,400 was raised. One hundred percent of funds raised will go to Sophia Dean’s family for her heart transplant.
Congenital heart defects are the No. 1 birth defect in the world and are the leading cause of all infant deaths in the U.S. Nearly 1 in 100 babies are born with a congenital heart defect, approximately 40,000 per year in the U.S. Thousands of them will not reach their first birthday and thousands more die before they reach adulthood.
For more information about Sophia and her GoFundMe campaign, visit gofundme.com/6i1q2g.
