JOHN AMIS/Special

Megan Hosfeld talks to Santa at last year's holiday party for heart patients and their families at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. This year's party will be Dec. 10.

Last year, Megan Hosfeld sat on Santa's knee at the Sibley Center's holiday party for patients and their families. She was excited that her baby brother, John Robert, had a new heart thanks to a successful transplant at the Sibley Heart Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

This year, both children will enjoy the holiday party on Dec. 10, which is being held off hospital grounds for the first time to provide for more space and additional parking. Last year, 320 young heart patients and their families were invited to the annual hospital event.

This year, 390 families are on the list to have breakfast with Santa, play games and make crafts.

"The number of young heart patients is growing. Fortunately, thanks to generous private donors, we're able to expand our Kids at Heart programming," said Megan Ramsey, chaplain with Children's.

Kids at Heart is an education and resource program for patients and their families at the Sibley Heart Center. The hospital hosts free monthly dinners and educational speakers at the hospital, as well fun outings like a summer carnival/picnic and trips to the zoo. The group holds an annual congenital heart defect awareness celebration in February and sponsors a "Parenting Your Heart Child" conference in the fall.

"We try to do whatever we can to make a difficult situation better," Ramsey said. "Parents and especially siblings of the 'heart child' appreciate having something fun to do, to experience something positive come from this diagnosis which brings so much pain and upheaval to their lives."

The program offers families of heart patients a chance to interact with people who share a common experience.

"When they get together, the families have no trouble talking with each other," Ramsey said. "They can empathize, advise, offer tips on care and coping that come from first-hand experience of living in the situation. It's different than what we know clinically.

"For many, the group becomes their extended family and they keep coming for years. We encourage that. It gives hope to newly-diagnosed parents to see kids who had similar conditions up running around and leading normal lives."

To learn more about Kids at Heart, visit www.choa.org.