CHERUBS - The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research Awareness and Support

CHERUBS - The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, Awareness and Support

Welcome to the official web site of CHERUBS - The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, Awareness and Support. CHERUBS is the original CDH non-profit organization founded in 1995 to help families and medical care providers of children born with CDH.

CDH occurs when the diaphragm fails to fully form, allowing abdominal organs into the chest cavity and preventing lung growth.   CDH occurs in 1 of every 2500 births; a baby born with CDH every 10 minutes. 50% of babies diagnosed with CDH do not survive. The cause is not known. Over a half million babies have been born with CDH since 2000. CDH is as common as Spina Bifida and Cystic Fibrosis but there is very little awareness and even less research. CHERUBS is working hard to raise more CDH Awareness, and in turn, more CDH Research, while we continue to support families affected by this devastating birth defect.

CHERUBS is the world's first, oldest, and largest CDH non-profit organization. We are truly a grassroots organization - CDH families creating something out of nothing when there was no other CDH group, information and services in 1995. CHERUBS was created to make sure that no family endures Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia without support or accurate information. Our Board of Directors includes CDH parents, grandparents, survivors, nurses, doctors and the world's top CDH researchers. CHERUBS is run solely by volunteers and donations. At CHERUBS, every CDH family has an opportunity to honor or remember our children while doing good to help others and work together as a CDH community. No other charity in the world has such a respected, educated or experienced group of leaders who care so much about the CDH community.

CHERUBS was not created by one family or for one family.   It was not created in honor or in memory of one child.   It is, and has always been, a group effort to help all families affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.   It is built upon the experiences of CDH families, collaborations with CDH researchers and a strong desire to raise CDH awareness through projects and events created in honor and in memory of cherubs.   CHERUBS was named for all the babies lost to Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia.

Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Conference

CHERUBS has had many accomplishments and projects in our first 15 years.   We are the first charity to promote CDH research, awareness and support.   We created a model organization for other groups with our services, structure and projects. We created the first CDH newsletter and the first on-line listservs and forums for CDH families.   CHERUBS is a founding member of ACDHO.   Our CDH Research Database is the largest database in the world created by CDH families to compare medical histories that hopefully will assist the CDH research community.   CHERUBS has spoken at International CDH Study Group meetings, given speeches around the country, given interviews for 20/20 and Mystery Diagnosis as well many other national media outlets.   We hold the International CDH Conference for families and researchers. Along with several other CDH organizations and 1000's of families, we designed the official Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness Ribbon and took a stand against the trademark on "Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness". We created awareness products, the first CDH awareness store, logos and we proclaimed the cherub as the official international symbol of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia to represent those CDH babies who did not survive.   And we have done it on through the hard labor of dozens of caring volunteers who want nothing more than to make the journey of CDH a little bit easier for families.

In 2010, as we celebrate 15 years of non-profit servic to the CDH community, we continue our good work through more conferences and get-togethers, more on-line services and more research.   We have kicked off the year with our "Save The Cherubs" CDH Awareness Campaign, 2 Congressional Bills to benefit CDH and other cause and launched our new web sites.

We are proud to serve over 3000 families in 38 countries and all 50 states affected by CDH since our creation.   Through our dozens of free ground-breaking services and the friendships made within our member community, CHERUBS has positively affected the lives of 1000's of CDH families and inspired many new CDH charities and project who have followed in our footsteps. We will continue to lead until Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia is no more. We are devoted to finding the cause, prevention and best treatments for CDH.