Looking back on the weekend of January 18-21, I was struck with jubilation, grief, laughter, and sadness, all wrapped up into one ball of emotion. These events are hard to organize, but even harder to stay away from when there are so many amazing people from PHW providing wonderful support and education. Each new PHW member initially feels raw and wounded, and needs what I did not find right away at the beginning of my own grief journey, which is support from others that completely understand and believe things could be different. From this view at 36,000 miles above the earth, in an airplane on my way back home to Phoenix, Arizona, I realized my contributions, love, prayers, support and heart screening programs with Parent Heart Watch still matter to many. Over the past seven years there were many times when the wall of defeat stared me in the face. It was just then that another door of opportunity would open, another parent would need to hear my compassionate story of hope, and so I continued on this journey. One step at a time, we can all make a difference in our own way, through our own healing and with our own compassionate story of loss, and then continue to share additional chapters of life full of victories and celebration. We have to keep on making a difference in our own way. We all matter, just as our children s lives all mattered to us and to the world. The membership of Parent Heart Watch is of great importance to me, and just as important to the parent membership are the new survivor members. We need to hear and share in their victories, too. As hard as that might be for both sides, each survivor is a celebration of the children that are represented by PHW. I would also like to give a special thanks to Matt Nader for sharing his story of survival, inspiring us to believe that if things are done properly, more young lives will be rescued and saved.

Meeting Overview
Parent Heart Watch reached new heights, new connections, larger exposure and a greater audience at the 3rd Annual Leadership Conference. On January 17, 2008, the first day of heart health advocacy was launched with a heart screening event hosted by the local area high school (Bishop Blanchet High School in Seattle). Parent Heart Watch, the Anthony Bates Foundation, Nick Of Time (NOT) Foundation, and event sponsors offered heart screenings to almost 300 young people. Local area cardiologists, medical professionals, local parents and people from around the globe came together to support this effort and share in the knowledge that lives will be saved through preventative cardiac screening programs. In attendance was a special guest, PHW member and friend Mary Vesseghi of the Irish Heart Fund in Ireland. She was gracious with her attendance and assistance, and absorbed the process of this heart screening event to take back to her homeland and advocate for a better screening program for the young people of Ireland.