Entries Tagged 'Congenital Heart Defects' ↓

Amitabh Bachchan at Madame Tussaud’s

As a child, I would have fantastic dreams about meeting
famous people.

Leaders. Performers. Writers.

Film stars.

The fantasy always ended there. I didn’t have any plans
for what to do when that happened!

Those wishful days are long gone. A lot has changed.
I’m no longer a starry-eyed fan hoping to meet a hero.

And I have a CLEAR plan about what to do when it happens.

Today, I really DID meet a SUPER-star.

He is a household name in millions of Indian families -
and even across Asia. He is the ‘angry young man’ action
hero of Bollywood.

Yes, today I met AMITABH BACHCHAN!

It was a very brief meeting. But I did get to shake
the famous superstar’s hand.

You can tell a lot about someone by the way he shakes
hands. Mr.Bachchan has a firm handshake, makes eye-
contact, and draws one for a short little while into
his personal universe.

It felt special

I decided right then that I liked him - as a person.

A few minutes later, he accepted an invitation to be
a patron of a CHD project which funds heart surgery
for poor Indian children.

He also made a donation of Rs.1.1 million - that’s
enough to fund 10 heart operations!

We all have potential to be super-stars.  Most of us
ignore that potential.  Even claim to NOT want that
status.

Yet, one superstar today could touch the lives of 10
children.

And do it in an instant - without it taking a toll on
his life or finances.

That’s the incredible potential to do good that stems
from having influence, fame and power.

Isn’t that a worthwhile reason to be great?

I just learned that Amitabh Bachchan has a blog. It
has EIGHT posts. And each one has HUNDREDS of comments!
One even has 887 comments!

And here I was thinking I’m a popular blogger

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Today, I read an appeal for a fundraising event. Two snippets from the letter stood out for me:

“Our goal is to raise $31,000…”

And the event was being conducted by:

“…four guys who have each generated over $100 million for their companies, clients and students…”

See the anachronism here?

If 4 guys, EACH generating one hundred MILLION dollars, need to raise $31,000, surely the easiest, quickest way to do it is… give it out of their pockets?!

In 2003, I formally founded the Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation. Since then, we have raised a little over $100,000 for non-profit purposes, from a variety of events and fundraisers.

Roughly 25% of the total has been donations I have personally made to the Foundation out of my business profits.

And I’m not computing the value of my time which is spent on activities of the Foundation related to fundraising and delivering services - all of which, by the way, are NOT compensated by even one cent in professional fees or charges or any kind of financial remuneration at all!

The share that comes from my business has steadily grown over the years. 2 years back, it was in the low 5-figures. And what if I were making $100 million? Scratch that. If I made just $1 million, then the Foundation would be getting $250,000 of that.

Charity begins from one’s self. When I ask someone to contribute to a cause or mission, I check if it is something I personally am willing to donate to. And then, I first do it - and only then invite others who are interested to join in.

If heart surgery were less expensive, I wouldn’t ask anyone for help. But at $2,500 for each operation, it’s takes a lot of money to reach my target of funding 100 surgeries for poor children with congenital heart defects every year.

Surely 4 centi-millionaires can raise a fraction of this amount without help?

India is a land of wide economic divides. Some are very rich.
Many are very poor. And congenital heart disease makes no
distinction between the two groups.

Most forms of heart birth defects require surgery to correct.
Surgery is expensive, and costs more than $3,000.
Unfortunately, many Indian families with monthly incomes of $100
to $150 cannot even think about affording it.

What’s worse is that congenital heart defects hit young
families. Parents are in their 20’s or early 30’s, with no
financial cushion. They are just starting out in life, when
fate deals them a severe blow.

In contrast, adult heart disease (like coronary artery disease)
affects people in their fifties and beyond. Often these
sufferers have a lifetime of savings to fall back upon to afford
expensive bypass surgery. Children with congenital heart
disease do not have that safety net.

The tragedy is that, if treated by surgery at the right time, a
child with congenital heart disease can often be fully restored
to normal health and have a life expectancy of 70 or 80 years as
a productive citizen.

But if left uncorrected in early childhood, even a simple defect
like a hole in the heart can result in complications (like
increased blood pressure in the lungs) which will shorten
lifespan - and make surgery impossible or very risky at a later
stage.

Three issues need addressing.

* Early detection.

* Prompt referral to medical care.

* Treatment by surgery.

Detection by early infant screening requires vast resources and
networks that often fall within the scope of Government run
programs. But making medical services and surgical care
accessible and affordable to children from poorer sections of
society are areas where the Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation is
strongly involved.

How big is the problem?

An estimated 8 of every 1,000 children born have some form of
congenital heart disease. With a population of 1.129 billion
and a birth rate of 22.69 per 1000, an estimated 200,000
children with congenital heart defects are born in India EVERY
YEAR.

In the south Indian state of Tamilnadu, with a population of
62.4 million, close to 10,000 children are born every year with
congenital heart defects.

While exact statistics are hard to come by, the total number of
paediatric heart operations performed per year in Tamilnadu is
approximately 1,500. This includes around 700 surgeries done in
public sector hospitals, which are the only resources accessible
to children from economically weak families.

This leaves an ever increasing pool of children with congenital
heart defects awaiting surgery that their families cannot
afford, and the already strained public healthcare services are
unable to deliver.

In private-sector corporate hospitals, congenital heart surgery
costs around $3,750 to $6,500.

By carefully managing costs (without compromising in any way on
high quality equipment and consumable items), and by recruiting
the services of charity-minded professionals who donate their
time for little or no compensation, the Dr.Mani Children Heart
Foundation is able to perform similar operations at a reduced
cost of $2,250.

The solution?

This complex, sticky problem can be addressed by a two-pronged
approach.

1. Create healthcare delivery systems that can deliver high
quality specialised care to under-privileged children with
congenital heart disease, at reasonable cost

2. Develop funding sources to enable these organisations to care
for 500 to 1000 children with CHD every year

The focus of Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation is to establish
these 2 pillars.

Our team of highly skilled and experienced professionals is
driven by a mission to help poor children with heart defects,
and a dream of expanding to a scale big enough to make a
difference to the large population of CHD victims in India.

But alone, we cannot fund this ambitious project. We need help.
Your help.

Will you help us save the lives of children with congenital
heart defects?

“Those who do not learn from history are
condemned to repeat it.” - Santayana

I enjoy studying history. Am reading J.M.Roberts’ “History of Europe”, a book
I bought in January 2001 - but only now had a chance to go through.

From early recorded history, I’m now at the decline of the Roman empire in 300 A.D. - and one lesson comes through loud and clear.

In the hindsight of historical review,
little of what we do matters.

Alexander the Great was one of the world’s most powerful conquerors. He died at the young age of 33. Of him it was said:

“Into 3 decades, he compressed the energies of many lifetimes.”

In Roberts’ 580 page book, Alexander gets ONE-HALF page!

A man who changed the world, ruled over most of Europe, and extended his empire right across upto India, merits little more than a footnote in history books.

Most of what we do today ranks nowhere in scale or scope as compared with that.

Yet, we spend most of our lives obsessed about doing things that will make us
‘famous’, ‘powerful’, ‘rich’ and more.

Why?

Does it matter?

Wouldn’t it be more fulfilling just to do our duty, help as many others as we can, spend time and energy doing the things we want, like, believe in?

In the light of this realization, my passionate efforts to help spread congenital heart defects awareness on A DAY FOR HEARTS - Feb.14th - appear so much more satisfying to me.

I’m doing what I want, like, believe in.

I’m doing it for unfortunate children, so they have a chance at a better life.

I’m doing it - and asking you to help - because I see it as my duty.

Won’t you join me in helping, please?

See how you can help:

http://www.CHDinfo.com/chdaware/youcanhelp.htm

Thank you from my heart

Something Jason Moffatt wrote on his blog today resonated with me. You may enjoy it too. Here it is: http://www.JasonMoffatt.com

The post is titled: “Tony Robbins ‘Date With Destiny’ Recap”

Every year, from mid-January until February 14th, I put most things on hold and make a very special event my highest priority.

The event is called “A DAY FOR HEARTS: Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Day”

It is a worldwide effort by a group of dedicated professionals, parents and passionate supporters to spread the word about the serious issue of heart birth defects - and to generate support for children needing assistance to have congenital heart defects treated.

Since this is an issue close to my heart, I get energized and enthusiastic about working on it for 4 weeks. While asking others to help promote a product or tell their list about a new program or service I launch is sometimes daunting, I have never hesitated to ask for help with spreading CHD awareness.

And this is the only event for which I contact even total strangers, and ask if they can assist in some way.

This year’s efforts have been fruitful. Yesterday, a note about A DAY FOR HEARTS went out to a large mailing list with over 40,000 subscribers. Many popular bloggers and folks with extensive reach threw in their support and spread the word.

And equally important, many hundred others, with smaller contact lists but bigger hearts, did their bit to tell people they know about CHD Awareness Day.

Everyone is a part of this extensive effort to help save a child’s life. And I am deeply appreciative of your support with this. Thank you from my heart.

As we get closer to February 14th, just like every year in the past, one thought keeps running through my mind.

I could have asked a few more people.

I could have been more persistent and persuasive.

I could have done a little bit more.

I could have worked a bit harder on gathering support.

I could have made a bigger impact.

It is true. It will always be true. Rarely, if ever, do we give anything our very best shot.

What could you have done to spread CHD awareness?

See how you can help spread CHD awareness

Welcome to Day 10 of your 10 day Niche Blog Challenge.

Today’s message is going to be brief.

Very brief.

In fact, it’s just one word long…

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S

And thank you - indirectly, you have helped in the
work of our Children Heart Foundation.

You are special - because you completed the
10 day challenge. On average, 90% of people who
begin a program - ANY program - drop out mid-way.

You finished - and that’s the seed for success.

Keep building upon this momentum and take your
blogging a notch higher.

If you’d like to post a short note about your results…
visitor counts, Adsense income (in total - don’t give out
CTR or other data, which violates their TOS), affiliate
earnings or anything else that could help… please drop
by the blog and leave a comment.

And share your thoughts about being a part of this 10 day
blog challenge.

The “CHD Social Media Challenge” is a project to spread Congenital Heart Defects awareness. There are 4 mini-tutorials and 1 firesale making up the ‘challenge’. You can join in and help too - click here to see how.

I’ve written about how I use Twitter - and how I view it.

In a nutshell, I see it as the online equivalent of a coffee-room in the cardiac surgical operating suite - a place where you relax in between work, chat and catch up with news by talking briefly to a group of people.

In the coffee-room, I find myself talking to 4 kinds of people:

- those I already know
- those who share similar interests
- those whom I can help
- those who can help me

If there are others in the room, I might chat with them on occasion when I have free time, there’s no one else to talk to, and I’m in the mood to explore new relationships.

Otherwise, I’d rather ignore them - and sit quietly with a cup of tea… and think!

And that’s how I intend to use Twitter, going forward. Because Twitter, in many ways, is a social microcosm very similar to the coffee-room environment.

Let’s take a hypothetical friend of mine named JohnDoe.

If I walk into the coffee-room and see John sitting by himself, I’d very likely step over and talk to him. We’d share some gossip and news, plan something to do, catch up with what’s happening in our lives and generally pass the time happily until either (or both) had to leave.

But what if the coffee-room has 20 other people, 19 of whom know JohnDoe and are his friends?

I couldn’t possibly walk up to him, cut into his conversation, and start talking to him about something else - even if I’m his good friend.

If I had something interesting/important to tell John, I’d probably call out across the room (the Twitter equivalent of an @JohnDoe message): “John, how about tennis this Friday?”

He’d look up, reply with a quick: “Sure, see you there!”

And I’d leave, hoping to see him on Friday.

But what if there were not just 20, but ONE HUNDRED people in the room… and ALL were friends of JohnDoe, and all are trying to talk to him at the same time.

Even if I shouted out loud, the chance of my grabbing John’s attention for long enough to get my message across is very slim. My voice gets drowned out in the noise.

Let’s port this scenario to Twitter.

JohnDoe has few followers, and I’m one of them. We enjoy conversations.

After a while, JohnDoe gets many new followers. I can still get his attention with an @JohnDoe message - but that’s it.

In time, JohnDoe is overwhelmed with followers - or he has drastically cut down on the time he spends on Twitter. This means he is no longer able to service his following - and I can no longer reach him, even with @JohnDoe posts, or through Direct Messaging.

JohnDoe’s Twitter-verse got too crowded for meaningful 2-way communication to be possible.

And that changed reality is what forced me to revise my Twitter strategy.

I enjoy building relationships online.

I use social media and digital communication for this purpose.

Almost everything I do online is related to my efforts to spread congenital heart defects awareness and helping unfortunate children born with heart defects.

So I use Twitter to build relationships with specific groups of people.

1 - those I already know (from elsewhere on the Web, or offline)

2 - those who share similar interests and values (mainly a desire to help less fortunate people)

3 - those whom I can help (like my list members, clients and contacts from other forums and social networks)

4 - those who can help me (in spreading congenital heart defects awareness)

In other words, if you are a part of my Twitter universe, you matter to me.

And if I am a part of your Twitterverse, I expect that I should matter to you.

In case I don’t, there isn’t much point in our being on each others’ Twitter networks, really, is there?

That’s why my revised Twitter strategy includes UN-following everyone who did not fit into one of these 4 groups.

And why I will be VERY picky about who gets added in the future.

After all, I only have limited time to spend in this online coffee-room - and I want the biggest impact from my social media networking on Twitter!

You can use today for either creating 3 more lenses on your chosen keywords, or doing more promotion for the lenses you have.

Here are some more things to do today:

Go to the popular lenses that are ranked high for your keyword or phrase. Check to see if they have a guestbook.

Then leave a comment about that lens - with a quick blurb about yours, and a link back. But don’t ruin the spirit of the community by spamming everyone’s guestbook at random. Please.

Set up your bookmark on Digg and Del.icio.us. Place the button on your lens so Squidoo visitors can bookmark it.

Email your list.

Link to the lens from articles in directories or blogs.

Run a link swapping campaign with other lens masters in your niche.

Now, depending upon how fast you are at doing this, and how much time you have available to work on your Squidoo strategy, the entire program I have outlined could take you 5 days - or 10, or even longer.

What matters more is that you get it done.

And keep doing what works, dropping the tactics that don’t give you good enough results for the time and effort you invest into it.

Squidoo is here to stay. Building your Squidoo network, and making Squidoo an integral part of your marketing and traffic generating strategy is a smart decision.

And Squidoo has a charitable focus too. Part of all revenues generated by lensmasters is donated to various charities and non-profits. And the tools and structure is designed to help non-profits get more visibility and involve their volunteers and supporters in the effort of growing awareness.

You have helped by participating in the ‘Squidoo for CHD’ challenge. Thank you for your support for ‘A Day for Hearts - Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Day‘.

The “CHD Social Media Challenge” is a project to spread Congenital Heart Defects awareness. There are 4 mini-tutorials and 1 firesale making up the ‘challenge’. You can join in and help too - click here to see how.

Welcome to Day 9 of your 10 day Niche Blog Challenge.

You’ve come a long way since beginning this ‘challenge’.

And maybe this is more work (and results-oriented work)
than you’ve done in many months, or years, or maybe ever!

You deserve to be FAMOUS for what you’ve achieved this
week… so why not do it?!

Yes, today’s task is to distribute a press release -
about you, your business, your blog, or anything else
related to your niche blog!

Think about something like this:

* Newbie Niche Marketer Earns Online Income In 10 Days

* Beginner Blogger Set To Dominate Niche

* Blogger From _______ (Your Town) Is Authority On
_______ (Niche)

* _______ (Niche) Blog Covers Breaking News

* _______ Blogger Brings Daily Inspiration To Web

Then do a short press release, mentioning your niche
blog and highlighting one or two special features of
it.

Submit your press release to sites like PR web

To get greater benefit and visibility from your note,
you could even place a small bid for wider distribution
through PR web.

At worst, this will give your blog an inbound link
from a high ranked page, and with premium distribution
you’ll get even wider presence.

That’s it for today. Take a break - See you again
tomorrow.

The “CHD Social Media Challenge” is a project to spread Congenital Heart Defects awareness. There are 4 mini-tutorials and 1 firesale making up the ‘challenge’. You can join in and help too - click here to see how.

Welcome to the last day of the “6 Day Twitter Traffic” challenge.

Establish Your Authority

In a short time, you can grow and establish your position as an authority by posting on Twitter regularly.

Focus on a niche where you want to be recognized as an expert. Give tremendous value to followers who are also interested in that niche topic.

By posting at least 10 tweets daily, of which 8 are great links you’d like to share with your audience, you’ll quickly gain respect and attention - then influence.

Once that’s done, when you link back to your own website or blog, you’ll find a fair number of your followers will click on that link too - because you are known for providing good value.

Another ‘trick’ to getting the most traffic from Twitter posts is to use ‘grabber’ headlines. Your tweets should evoke interest or curiosity, fear or guilt, envy or anger, if they are to get the most clicks on your links.

Here’s an example of some ‘teaser tweets’ you can post today, as it also helps with the Congenital Heart Defects awareness effort:

Have you seen this fantastic effort? http://www.CHDinfo.com/chdaware/

or

This is so awesome. I feel good joining - you should too… http://www.CHDinfo.com/chdaware/

or

If we don’t help spread the word, who will? The children NEED our support. http://www.CHDinfo.com/chdaware/

If you master the twin techniques of locating links of interest and value, and then getting people to click on them by writing teaser headlines, you’ll grow your Twitter network quickly, and get nice bursts of traffic too.

Today’s assignment is to practice writing ‘killer headlines’ - and watching your referral stats to see how much traffic you get from Twitter.

Once you know this, keep the ones that work well, and use that angle as a model for future tweets.

Today’s task includes following 25 new people, posting 10 new interesting links, engage in conversations (by making @ posts) with at least 3 of your followers and practicing writing teaser tweets.

There’s a lot more to Twitter. In fact, no two people agree exactly on how Twitter can be best utilized in your business or personal life. There are so many applications and uses.

Keep exploring, learning and testing. I’m sure you’ll find the Twitter traffic increasing - and you’ll have a lot of fun.

Happy Twittering!

The “CHD Social Media Challenge” is a project to spread Congenital Heart Defects awareness. There are 4 mini-tutorials and 1 firesale making up the ‘challenge’. You can join in and help too - click here to see how.