Little Hearts Matter

Who we are

Little Hearts Matter (LHM) is a national charity with over 7000 members. We are the only charity in the UK that offers support and information to, and represents the needs of, children and families following a diagnosis of single ventricle heart disease (half a working heart). These congenital cardiac conditions can never be cured, even following repeated surgery, so the children must learn to live within the restrictions that their disability and fears for their future create.

Little Hearts Matter is there from the time parents learn of their child’s condition, through risk-filled treatment into a challenged-filled life at home. LHM is there to support the children, and their families, through their hopes and aspirations and the gradual realisation that they will never have the same life as their peers. Our aims are to:

Alleviate isolation by offering support, friendship and understanding from the time a diagnosis is made, through treatment decisions, hospital care and into life at home, eventually introducing parents and patients to other families who have similar experiences and shared concerns helping them to build a network of support.

Reduce fear by offering patients, parents, siblings, and the extended family a greater opportunity to understand the diagnosis and treatment paths available.

Reduce confusion and a lack of understanding by producing and supplying for free, user focused information that supports and aids understanding from the time of diagnosis, through treatments and into life at home.

Raise a greater awareness within Medical, Educational, Social and Governmental circles of the needs of children, and their families, as they travel through every stage of their lives.