Specific Purpose Statement: To inform my audience about the major health concern, diagnosis, and approaches to treating Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.
Intro
Hook: Imagine you’re married with a baby on the way. You are your spouse are extremely excited and ready to have a child. It seems that nothing can go wrong in your life. There’s only one problem, your baby is diagnosed with a rare heart disease called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). This is a reality for an NFL player named Greg Olsen.
Reveal Topic: HLHS, as defined by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, is the underdevelopement of parts of the left side of the heart (commonly the left ventricle).
Establish Credibility: I became interested in this HLHS after I watched a documentary on Greg Olsen’s struggle, and I’ve done research to learn more about this syndrome.
Link to Audience: I believe it’s important for all of you to know about HLHS because it can happen to any of our children, and being informed is half the battle.
Preview Main Points: In the next few minutes, I will be speaking about characteristics, diagnosis, and approaches to treating of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.
Body
I. HLHS is a major health concern although it’s not very common.
A. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 out of every 4,344 babies is diagnosed with HLHS every year in the U.S.
1. In babies without HLHS, the right side of the heart pumps oxygen- poor blood from the heart to the lungs. The left side pumps oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body. (show regular heart diagram)
2.In babies with HLHS, the left side of the heart cannot pump blood to the heart properly. (show HLHS heart diagram)
3. This causes the right side of the heart to overwork, and it can’t handle doing both the left and right sides’ job.
B. A newborn can only survive its’ first few days of life with HLHS.
1. Blood may still