As a cardiologist, I think about the heart day and night. It is central and fundamental to all of us. We must protect and preserve the heart so that individuals with Duchenne or Becker can live life to the fullest.

For those of you who may not know me, I am a Pediatric Cardiologist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and one of the leaders of the muscular dystrophy committee in Advanced Cardiac Therapies Improving Outcomes Network (ACTION). ACTION is a learning health system focused on improving outcomes for children and young adults with cardiomyopathy and heart failure.

Help me make hearts Stronger With Every Beat. Your gift to PPMD’s Cardiac Initiative will prioritize ACTION’s focus on cardiac care and research for Duchenne.

My life’s work is dedicated to helping hearts beat stronger for longer in individuals with Duchenne or Becker. During my training we implanted the first Ventricular Assist Device in a person with Duchenne in the United States, and I have been fighting to explore every avenue possible to improve heart function for those diagnosed with Duchenne or Becker ever since.

Improvements in neurology and pulmonary care have dramatically improved outcomes in Duchenne over the last two decades. However, we have very little information about heart care. Cardiologists are basing our treatments on intuition and best guesses. That’s not good enough. We can’t wait another two decades to figure out how to care for the heart.

Give today and your support will help us get answers about how to care for the heart now.

PPMD’s support of ACTION’s multi-center Duchenne database is helping centers across North America work together to understand how the heart is evolving in Duchenne. With your support we have recently expanded the database to include individuals with Becker and female carriers. This information will help us understand in real-time how best to care for the heart, how new therapies really impact the heart, and help us design cardiac clinical trials to move the field forward and change lives.

We also know publishing papers is not enough to improve care quickly. Medicine moves slowly. We need to get this cutting-edge cardiac research into the community to improve care now.

With your support, we are developing online educational materials so that the raw data will be in ACTION’s database. This will help families understand what they can do to help the heart and make the best decisions on cardiac care no matter where they live.

Your investment to prioritize cardiac care and research won’t just help some individuals with Duchenne and Becker. It will help ALL individuals with Duchenne and Becker.

With your gift toward our goal of $400,000 hearts will grow Stronger With Every Beat.

Warmly,

Chet Villa, MD
Pediatric Cardiologist
Co-Leader Muscular Dystrophy Committee, ACTION

P.S. Your gift today will help to ensure hearts beat stronger.