Tiny Ticker nails and my past.

Hey guys, today  I have a pretty sentimental thing to talk about, and nails inspired by it. First off I want to say that these nails are for a competition/giveaway hosted by OoooogShiny, and can be found here, the aim is to "design s socially engaged manicure that supports a cause and raises awareness about an issue that you care about".

The cause

The cause I chose to represent is actually something I needed to research, I knew what I wanted to base it on, but knew of no charity in particular that supports the cause. After a short while of looking I came across the organisation tinytickers.org who are a UK based charity that "exists to improve the detection, diagnosis and care of babies with major heart problems, before birth and in the first year of life. " As soon as I heard about the contest being hosted, I knew that heart conditions in babies was the one thing I wanted to talk about, and the one major thing in my life I have gone through, with both myself and younger sibling, and fortunately we both survived.

The symbol on my nail is the logo of the charity, so simple but so meaningful and lovely, the colours pink and blue represent girls and boys, not only that though, they are the favourite colours of my brother and sister. 

My story

Although the charity supports pretty much any heart condition the one I was faced with as a child was a hole in the heart, actually two holes in the heart. Although 'hole in the heart' can cover many congenital heart diseases from mild to serious, mine was pretty high up on the scale of seriousness. I can't say what kind of CHD I had, I never really knew much about it until I looked around and researched for this, but my guess  is that it was a form of Ventricular septal defect (VSD), where is is an abnormal opening in the dividing wall between the main pumping chambers of the heart. Although it is a pretty serious case they are the most common form of CHD and can, and will, be treated with no  or few problems.

Because I was born with the problem it was fixed by the time I was one or two, I was in and out of hospital for a while until it was sorted. Of course I don't remember much being so young, and asking my parents would bring back up memories that shouldn't be brought up again, it's not a very nice subject after all. I am now twenty years old, happy and healthy, despite premature birth and a heart condition I think I'm doing just fine. My sister, who is now seventeen, also had problems as a child, I believe to do with the heart, from what I remember she was in hospital for almost a year after she was born.

I doubt our childhood was an easy time for my parents, and I hope I never have to deal with problems like they did, may I say they are the most fantastic parents in the whole entire world. I call them for being protective, especially my mum, but I guess I can see why. We are all happy, healthy and safe now as we grow into childhood, and there has never been a doubt about a heart problem since we were very young.


Love and hugs, Amy (aka luckiest girl in the world)