HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Like most nine-year-olds, Finn loves fun. Whether it's going for a swing in his backyard playground or playing with his pets, There’s not much that slows him down except sometimes his heart condition
"I was diagnosed with CHD, Congenital Heart Defect," Finn said. "Unlike normal kids I have a limit so I can’t really run around for that much longer."
"We had never heard of CHD, we had never even heard of open-heart surgery in a baby," said Finn's mother, Kelly Blumenthal. "That was something that was not even on our radar at all."
Blumenthal says she was first alerted to the life he may have before he was even born, almost a year after the birth of her first son who had no complications.
"We found out about the heart disease when I was 19 weeks pregnant," Blumenthal said. "They said he would have no chambers in his heart and abnormal connections surrounding his heart."
Despite having to undergo open-heart surgery shortly after he was born, Blumenthal says Finn has been defying the odds for nearly a decade.
"He has been sedated for various procedures a total of 18 times and two of those were open-heart surgeries," said Blumenthal.
Even with her son's heart health milestones however, Blumenthal knows where his fears are never far away. That is because an emergency could strike at any moment just as it did when Finn was five years old.
"It was after his most recent heart surgery and a day before Thanksgiving we were in a Wegmans grocery store and he had a stroke," recounted Blumenthal.
Blumenthal says thanks in part to knowledgeable employees and an AED in the store, Finn was able to get the help that he needed immediately following his stroke. And since then he's managed to overcome every complication.
"I kept fighting even though the CHD has been in my body for a decade," Finn said.
"It's absolutely amazing that he's here now knowing that he's gone through what he's gone through almost a decade into this journey," Blumenthal said. "It's an absolute miracle."
But even with his defect the now nine-year-old still has a lot of heart to give and a mission to accomplish. Finn’s family has a tradition of giving back.
"My grandmother and his great-grandmother raised $45,000 for the American Heart Association back in the 1960s," Blumenthal said.
Because of his experience, Finn has been sharing his story almost as long as he's been alive as an American Heart Association ambassador. Thanks in part to his campaign, Finn's Mission, more than 4,000 families in Virginia and 130,000 families nationally have learned hands-only CPR.
"It's such a large amount of people and I'm just a little kid," Finn said with a smile.
Finn's impact has been so impressive that the AHA plans to give him his flowers during April's Heart Ball celebration on the cusp of the organization's 100th anniversary.
"It's such a dream," Blumenthal said. "We're so excited to go back and show how he's doing and everything that transpired since he was two years old."
Now Finn and his mom are encouraging lawmakers to join the fight by passing Senate Bill 181, which would ensure all schools in the Commonwealth, and their respective athletic programs, develop a cardiac emergency response plan or CERP.
The measure would require faculty, staff and coaches to be trained with life-saving skills like hands-only CPR, knowledge, how to properly operate an AED, and the implementation of safety drills to prepare for a potential cardiac emergency.
"The awareness is what leads to funding, the funding is what leads to research, and the research that's what leads to hope," said Blumenthal.
"I'm just proud of myself to be capable of doing all of that," said Finn.
The Richmond Heart Ball will take place at Main Street Station on Saturday, April 27 at 6 p.m.
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