ST. LOUIS — On the Hill, just 2 miles from Children’s Hospital, you will find a little house with a big heart.
Ellie Braun is the founder and executive director of the Eleanor Grace Memorial Foundation and The Heart House.
"We started this foundation in memory of our daughter Eleanor Grace," she says.
In March of 2019, Ellie and Mike Braun found out that they were expecting twin girls. At Ellie's 20-week ultrasound, their lives took a heartbreaking turn when they discovered that one of the twins had severe congenital heart disease.
Evelyn and Eleanor were born on September 2, 2019. While Evelyn was whisked away to the NICU, Eleanor passed away peacefully just hours after she was born.
"Her twin sister Evelyn was born perfectly healthy except that she was less than three pounds when she was born. So, we spent 3 and half months in the NICU at Children's Hospital," she says.
That’s when the idea for The Heart House was born.
The Heart House provides temporary housing for families who have infants with Congenital Heart Disease and are being treated at Children’s Hospital.
"Our hope is to eliminate the burden and the expense of actually being here in Saint Louis with their babies so that they can just focus on being with their babies and having an active role in their care and hopefully getting them to a healthy and happy future," she says.
The Heart House welcomed their first family in January of this year.
The social workers and the nurse administrators for the fetal heart center refer patients to us. It's a really wonderful way to do it because they are able to funnel the families to us that are most in need at the time," she says.
This little house with a big heart has a big dream. The Eleanor Grace Memorial Foundation is currently raising money to open a second Heart House, and eventually a village.
"It's lovely for us to be able to honor our daughter and keep her memory alive," she says.
You can support the Heart House mission and expansion by donating or attending a fundraising event -- the next one is coming up on Thursday, November 7th at Maryland House in the Central West End.
For more information and ways to get involved, visit hearthousestl.com.