A note from LaShay:

Hi! I’m LaShay. I’m a pediatric heart nurse from a small East Texas town and I love you.

Thank you for visiting this website. It has truly been a labor of love. As you embark on your journey through this website, you need to know how this started so that you can have a better understanding of where we are right now.

If you are a parent to a congenital heart defect (CHD) warrior, I want you to know that you are not alone. The Lord does see you. If He has named the stars, He sees you where you are now in your journey. This journey is not an easy journey. If you are a care provider that may be reading this, I know this journey is also not easy for you.

My career in medicine started in 2001, first as an EMT, and by 2003, I had advanced to a paramedic. As a paramedic I worked all over Dallas / Ft. Worth area for EMS systems, ranging from transfer services, 911 services, and helicopter EMS, to a specialty pediatric transport team. I absolutely loved my job in EMS.

In 2012, I received my nursing degree and started my first nursing job in a pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (CVICU). I absolutely loved my heart babies. Honestly, I struggle to articulate the impact that this patient population, their families, the nurses, and doctors have had on my life. It ranks up there as being one of the hardest jobs I have ever had, not just physically demanding, but a very emotionally demanding aspect.

During my time in the CVICU, I would draw heart pictures. There was an amazing nurse practitioner there who challenged me, “If you want to know the defect, you need to draw it. Draw it in a way that makes sense to you.” So, from 2014-2016, I would spend my time reviewing sonograms of patients’ hearts, also known as an echocardiogram. After reading over the reports, I would sit, draw, and color these heart drawings. As time went on, I asked more questions and researched words I did not know. One of my personal goals was to make a drawing that I could show the parents. I wanted to help them to understand their child’s defects. All of the pictures on this website are my own personal heart drawings.

One of my favorite job responsibilities was teaching. I loved it when I had the opportunity to teach parents and nursing students. I wanted the future generation of nurses and paramedics to know that their job mattered and that it was more than a paycheck. I wanted parents to have confidence in themselves in caring for their baby. The experience and the knowledge that I have gained from the years in medicine have forever impacted my life and I wanted to help others.

I had my first daughter during this time but by 2020 I was now also a mom of twins! This was a turning point in my life. Childcare can be expensive, so I started the greatest and most challenging yet rewarding job of my life as a stay-at-home mom. During this time, the Lord pulled me close to Him. Since I left my parents’ home in 2000, I had strayed away from Him. Gradually, I started seeking Him and I found Him.

One day I was listening to the Godmother podcast. Lisa Bevere was interviewing Amy Ford. During the interview Amy said “Sometimes, the Father will use a baby to woo the heart of His daughter back to Him.” I felt a kick in my spirit and screamed aloud, “That is ME!” He never moved. I did. From then to now, I seek Him and yearn to hear Him louder and clearer every day.

I have asked myself: How did I get here? How did I go from transporting patients to dialysis to running the 911 calls to landing on the scene of an accident in a helicopter to being a Pediatric CVICU nurse to a wife and mom to now an author? How? Through the divine hand of our Creator and Lord, Yahweh. It is all Him. In the past few years, the Lord has revealed things to me that I never saw before. I am enthusiastic and passionate about God’s Word.

I genuinely believe that this work is a divine work of God. Writing was never on my radar when I started drawing hearts in 2014. At one time, I was a very callous nurse. In this season, stepping away from the bedside and focusing on my family and the Lord, the Lord has been my heart surgeon, revealing areas of my heart that need healing. As a result, my faith has grown in a God that heals. There is no limit to what He can do, what He will do, if you will only let Him do it.

I am still a heart nurse. Through the book and this website, I want to come with you and help guide you to the Father. I can only offer you the revelation He has given me. If you want more, you must ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you.

He heals the wounds of every shattered heart. He sets his stars in place, calling them all by their names. How great is our God! There’s absolutely nothing his power cannot accomplish, and he has infinite understanding of everything. Psalms 147:3-5 TPT