Jaclyn and Jason Feinberg

Ride for Breakthroughs for Little Hearts!

The Cardiac Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) saved JJ’s life. 

We knew something was very wrong during week 11 of the pregnancy but only got speculation and wrong answers until finding Dr. Rychik at CHOP who diagnosed JJ with TGA at 17 weeks. Transposition Of The Great Arteries is a congenital heart defect that needs to be immediately corrected at birth or oxygen won’t reach the baby’s vital organs including the brain. Our family temporarily moved to Philly where JJ was delivered at CHOP in October 2021. Dr. Chen was his surgeon, the equivalent of Michael Jordan being your shooting guard, and he miraculously repaired his tiny heart at birth.

JJ came out of his double bypass, arterial switch, plus two VSD closures like a champ. The evening after though, he had to fight through some real adversity. In those scary moments, we talked about wanting to forever support this CHOP team financially, irrespective of the outcome. Eventually they figured out JJ, he got off his ventilator, chest tube, pacemaker, feeding tube and somehow was home for Halloween with our family. 

After years of Speech, PT, Cardiac checkups and lots of love, JJ is a thriving 3-year old. He’s obsessed with cars (identifying every make by emblem), puts a smile on just about anyone’s face on demand, and may even start participating in sports soon. 

We remain in awe of what this CHOP team of doctors and nurses accomplish every day. Thank you isn’t nearly enough to acknowledge what they do every day. Hopefully, one of our kids makes a career choice to be a hero like each of them.

With your support, we are contributing to a better understanding of the causes of pediatric heart disease, developing new treatments, improving long-term outcomes and offering new hope to families who need it most for the little heart warriors.

Everyone has their passions and causes, so please don’t feel obligated to support the one closest to our hearts. That said, any donation large or small would be much appreciated. 

For more details on what your donations is doing:  https://www.phillyspinin.org/why-we-ride/

 A note from JJ’s surgeon:

"The Philly-Spin-In not only inspires the Cardiac Center team to continue our pursuit of clinical excellence, but the funding the event generates also allows us to push new boundaries of research and patient care initiatives that help define the future of pediatric heart care." – Dr. Jonathan Chen