La Bella Hair Studio: "La Bella Vita" Featuring: Stephanie and Francesca Gasper

La Bella's slogan "Live, Look, Feel Beautiful" is more to us than just a catch phrase- it was a vision set forth by our founder/owner Jessie because she knew that she wanted our salon to represent more than just helping people with their looks (although we are pretty good at it). She wanted La Bella Hair Studio to encompass and embrace beauty in all aspects of life, which is something we strive for everyday. It is important t embrace the beauty within yourself and the community in which you live.The year of 2014 has been dubbed "La Bella Vita" meaning "The Beautiful Life".We have made it our mission to find 12 special people within our community, who have somehow impacted the lives around them, to be featured every month.

Well, we are now in our second month of the year, so it is time for Round 2 of "La Bella Vita"

February is known as the month of love, and gained its reputation thanks to Valentine's Day being on the 14th. The universal symbol for love is the heart, which actually symbolizes more than just that during this month. Many people are unaware that February means Heart Disease Awareness! It is very important that you take the time to learn about all different forms of heart disease and how to keep you and your loved ones informed on prevention and treatment. Heart Disease is leading cause of death in America and can come in many different forms from many different sources.

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is what we will be highlighting in this post. It is considered to be the most common birth defect worldwide, and is the leading cause of birth defect related deaths. CHD Awareness Week is from February 7th-14th. For more information on how you can make a difference in the cause, visit the Congenital Heart Information Network.

Featured for February in La Bella Vita are TWO very special people from our community. Both have proven to be fighters and, in my opinion, have the strongest hearts! Representing CHD Awareness is...

Stephanie and Francesca Gasper!

Stephanie is a loving mother of 2, who has been fighting her own battle with CHD since birth. Her story is one that shows us that you can overcome anything, and her strength is an inspiration. Francesca is Stephanie's daughter, who was born with the same form of CHD and has already proven to be a strong little girl having already overcome an open heart surgery at the young age of 6 months. I wanted Stephanie to share with us her story, give us an idea of the journey she and Francesca have been on, and tell us what we could do to make a difference.

Q: First and foremost, let's introduce- tell us a little about yourself!

"My name is Stephanie Gasper. I am 26 years old. I have a sexy husband and two amazing kids that I thank God every day for. Aiden (healthy heart) just turned 5 and Francesca (my heart baby) is 16 months old."

Stephanie, her "sexy husband" Alex, son Aiden, and daughter Francesca

Q: What exactly is Congenital Heart disease?

"CHD can describe a number of different problems affecting the heart. It is the most common type of birth defect, and is also the number 1 birth defect that causes death in the first year of life."

Q: What is done to prevent/treat someone with CHD and what are the signs? Is there a cure?

"To prevent CHD, women who are expecting should get good prenatal care. Treatment all depends on the condition that the person has. Rapid breathing, blue coloring, fatigue, poor feeding, and poor weight gain [are signs of CHD]. Surgeries and medication are forms of treatments but they are not necessarily a cure for CHD. When someone is born with CHD, they have CHD for life."

Q: CHD Awareness Week is Feb.7-14, is there anything we could do as a community to help raise awareness and contribute to furthering the cause?

"One is educating yourself. 1 in 110 babies are born with CHD and majority of the hospitals in the US do not test infants when they are born. So bringing awareness to people is a great idea. There is a great non-profit organization here in Richmond called Mended Little Hearts and they work nationally and in the communities to support children with CHD and also their families, along with bring awareness"

Q: Would you mind sharing how CHD has directly effected you and your family's lives?

"At just a week old, my parents were told that something was wrong with my heart and soon found out I had A-V canal defect, one out of the many congenital heart diseases. At just five months old I underwent my first open-heart surgery followed by another one when I was 3 and my most recent surgery at age 17. As a baby, I would get too tired to suck a bottle, so my parent’s had to tube feed me up until I had my first surgery. They would also have to bring me into the doctor’s office for weekly check-ups and weigh-ins. Once my weight gain plateaued that meant it was time to operate. My first surgery, the surgeons actually took my heart out of my chest to work on it. Just thinking about that gives me chills. Even though I had CHD, my parents never held me back from doing things I wanted to do. The doctors told my mom, treat her like a normal kid-- so they did. I was enrolled in dance classes at age 3 and danced through high school. But my story doesn’t stop here, when I was 20 wks pregnant with my second child they had found something wrong with her heart but being in utero it was hard to tell exactly what was wrong. Many babies have VSDs (hole in the heart) that close up before or shortly after birth, so I had hoped and prayed that was the case, but it wasn’t. At one day old, they had a pediatric cardiologist do some extensive tests on my little one and afterwards, she, too was diagnosed with A-V canal defect. Talk about history repeating itself! A-V canal defect is a spectrum disorder and luckily, for Francesca her defect is not as severe has mine. Francesca was able to suck a bottle. She was just unable to feed for long periods of time, she got tired after a few minutes, so she would feed many times during they day but only consume small amounts. My husband and I would take Francesca every other week to get weighed to make sure she was growing. At six months we went up to UVA hospital and she had her first (and hopefully last) open heart surgery. Her surgery and recovery went very well. Now she still has a small hole in her heart that they will have to keep an eye on to make sure it does not become larger. But other than her CHD she is a thriving 16 month old who is so full of happiness and personality you would never know she was sick. She’s little, but fierce. She’s a fighter, like her mom!"

Stephanie and Francesca will continue to prove their strength while winning the battle against CHD

Two extremely beautiful ladies who have overcome so much already in their young lives, embracing life to its fullest each with a heart stronger than before. Thank you so much to Stephanie for sharing your story, and opening up to us in an effort to help raise awareness. Not only are you and Francesca an inspiration to all of us, you have given hope to many who may be in your same situation.

Please take the time to see how you can make a difference in raising awareness with CHD and Heart Disease! It's little effort for a big cause and can save lives.

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