Family Resilience Fund.
Since 2015, we’ve been offering practical support to families in the long haul of raising and loving their children with congenital heart disease and other complex illnesses. This support has included family grants to cover unreimbursed medical expenses. Beginning in 2025, we will be establishing the Family Resilience Fund to continue to support families. These funds will be distributed in collaboration with our partners. Please sign up for our email list to keep up to date on this program.
Our original research, along with 20 years of lived experience tells us that families caring for children with lifelong illnesses face tremendous financial stressors. Research also shows this powerful truth: when we support parents, kids do better.
Donating to support this fund isn’t just about a transaction; it’s about transforming a family by reminding them they don’t go at this alone.
What We Know About Caregiving For Children:
Caregiving for a medically complex child is one of the most demanding leadership roles on the planet.
Here’s what the numbers show:
14M children in the U.S. have a special healthcare need
Families lose $18,000+ annually in income
Mothers lose $295,000+ in lifetime earnings
25–40% of income goes toward unreimbursed expenses
60% of caregiving parents are at risk for anxiety or depression
70% of employed caregivers need to modify their work to accommodate their child’s needs.
Caregiving cuts work productivity by 33%
• Loss of Identity: Feeling consumed by caregiving and disconnected from self.
• Emotional Burnout: Mental and emotional exhaustion that limits growth.
• Stalled Dreams: Career and personal aspirations put on hold.
• Lack of Purpose Beyond the Role: Struggling to rediscover identity outside caregiving.
• Social Isolation: Disconnection from peers and support.
• Desire to Grow But Nowhere to Turn: Wanting to grow but lacking access and opportunity.
These invisible challenges are just as real as the medical ones.
When we invest in parents, we invest in the strength of entire families.
Beyond Caregiving: The Inner Challenges Parents Face
“The invisible challenges are just as real as the medical ones. When we invest in parents, we invest in the strength of the entire family.”
Ethan M. Lindberg Foundation
Families Have Always Been Our WHY:
Community Impact: Raised $4 million and devoted over 50,000 hours to our mission.
Housing Support: Provided over 3,000 nights of housing for families in hospitals, giving them one less thing to worry about during difficult times.
Financial Assistance: Distributed grants to families in 35 states and funded music therapy in the cardiac ICU at Boston Children’s to ease the burden and bring joy.
Cardiac Research: Funded research around the HLHS and single ventricle congenital heart disease, including innovative treatments for patients. We’ve created original research and published articles with our amazing research team on the financial, social, and emotional impact of having a child with complex congenital heart disease.
Family Advocacy: We’ve spoken at events, written articles, and advocated directly to medical teams and institutions on behalf of the needs of the families we serve.
Grief Support: We’ve supported grieving mothers through powerful weekend retreats that offered comfort, connection, and a path forward when they needed it most.
Heart Strong Message: Our message of resilience, embracing challenges, and transforming heartbreak into a force for good has resonated worldwide, inspiring others to live courageously and impact their communities.
Read more about the impact we’ve made here.
Take a Chance on Love.
When we lean into our stories and ask ourselves what we can do to use our experiences and the love in our hearts to make a difference in the world, amazing, life-changing things can happen.
This is the Heart Strong Story of The Wetherington Family, who took their grief and love and expanded their family through international adoption in honor of their son, Isaac.