The Children’s Heart Lane was brought about by the Snyder family, and their dream of starting a foundation came to realization in 2018 when they received their 501(c)3 non-profit status.
Their son, Kaston, was born in 2002 with multiple complex Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) that required them to travel from Amarillo, Texas to Dallas, nearly 400 miles from home. They travelled the road to Children’s Medical Center of Dallas dozens of times, for check-ups, testing, procedures and 2 open-heart surgeries, all before Kaston turned 2 years old.
And now 20 years later, they travel over 600 miles every 6 months for him to receive life-long care at Texas Children’s Hospital Adult Congenital Heart Center and Baylor St. Luke’s Abdominal Transplant and Liver Disease Clinic in the Houston Medical District. They understand firsthand the financial burden of traveling the road to get the best medical care for their son. Kaston eventually will require a Combined Heart and Liver Transplant, as he has developed end-stage Liver Cirrhosis as a result of his heart condition and subsequent surgeries that saved his life.
After leading a local CHD chapter of a national Congenital Heart Disease non-profit for 10 years and serving on it’s national Board of Directors, they decided they wanted to find a way to impact more families needing to travel outside of the Texas Panhandle with their children.
The Children’s Heart Lane’s main mission is to help families of children with chronic illness that need to receive medical care and treatment outside of the Texas Panhandle. Their Medical Travel Assistance Program helps off-sets the costs associated with fuel, meals, lodging and hospital parking fees.
Since 2018, they have helped dozens of families travel to Lubbock, Cook Children’s in Ft. Worth, Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Scottish Rite in Dallas, Austin, Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Baltimore and Boston Children’s Hospital. The families they serve have had to travel for follow-up appointments, testing, minor procedures, orthopedic surgeries, cancer treatment, bone marrow transplant, dialysis, open-heart surgeries and transplant evaluations (among others).
As of July 2023, The Children’s Heart Lane has given families in the Texas Panhandle $57,800 to help offset these travel related expenses.
They also have provided meals, supplies, toys and personal items to the Ronald McDonald House of Amarillo and Houston, as well as provide gifts to in-patient children and their parents at Christmas to local Amarillo hospitals.
Our goal of lessening the financial burden for these families would not be possible without the generosity of our donors and sponsors.
