A high schooler’s heartfelt call for donations

Amid the holiday hustle and bustle, we are reminded that this is a season of giving and many may be seeking a meaningful cause to support. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and no organization is more dedicated to changing that than the American Heart Association.

I urge The Baltimore Sun’s readers to consider donating to the American Heart Association to fund lifesaving research that improves the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of heart disease (“Baltimore City bystanders 45% less likely to perform CPR compared to state, national stats,” Nov. 25).

As someone who had a special heart before they were even born, this cause means so much to me.

I was born with Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia, a congenital heart defect. Doctors discovered my special heart at my mom’s 18-week ultrasound. I spent the first several months of my life at the hospital, underwent the first of more than a dozen heart catheterizations at just 3 days old, and have had three open heart surgeries — my first at 2 ½ months, and my most recent in 2023, at age 13.

Because of the advances in cardiovascular research and technology funded by the American Heart Association, I’m able to live a full and happy life, something that might not have been possible a few decades ago.

Donations made on Giving Tuesday provide more kids like me and their families the gift of life.

This year’s Giving Tuesday campaign is especially meaningful as the Association celebrates 100 years of lifesaving work. Now through Dec. 31, all donations made directly at heart.org/donate are matched by generous donors who wish for their lifesaving gift to be anonymous.

I hope others will join me in supporting the American Heart Association during this season of giving. Give today to help save a life like mine.

— Sophia Ferraro, Sykesville

The writer is a student at Century High School and former National Youth Heart Ambassador for the American Heart Association.

A day to give thanks now and (hopefully) forever

The Baltimore Sun has over the years highlighted for its readers the importance and historical value of Thanksgiving Day (“Retro Baltimore: Thanksgiving in 1974 was full of hardship and hope,” Nov. 26). This month, we as a nation will celebrate a joyous event, Thanksgiving Day. President Abraham Lincoln in 1864 designated the last Thursday of November for a day of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving should be a time that transcends the day and allows us to pause to give thanks and ponder the hazardous journey to North America in 1620 by the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims wanted to follow their religious beliefs in peace and dignity. In 1621, following the Pilgrim’s first harvest, these hardy and resolute individuals paused to give thanks to providence for their bounty and freedom.

In remembrance of that first Thanksgiving, let us all as a nation and people pause this month to give thanks for living in a land of plenty. We are a nation that allows each American and others to practice their religion and other beliefs without fear. We hope and pray that this will continue forevermore.

Finally, as we celebrate the joyous and radiant daybreak of Thanksgiving, let us reflect on the responsibility of working to perpetuate this sacred union of states to future generations of Americans. May God bless and keep the United States intact as a nation for many more Thanksgivings to come. This is our fervent belief now and in the future.

— John A. Micklos, Essex

Celebrating Baltimore’s rock ’n’ roll roots

Jacques Kelly’s recent article on the Royal Theater and early rock and roll shows in Baltimore was just plain terrific (“West Baltimore’s Royal Theater, a gateway to music history,” Nov. 23).

Earlington Carl Tilghman of Baltimore (Sonny Til) was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Sonny Til and the Orioles are considered the fathers of rhythm and blues, blending street corner and church choir harmonies and a backbeat into the existing (meaning predominately white) crooner pop styles and creating a new sound called doo-wop with hit tunes such as “Crying in the Chapel.”

We are talking late ’40s and early ’50s. And then white musicians such as Bill Haley and the Comets and Buddy Holley and The Crickets started to rumble. You could say modern rock was getting started here with Sonny Til and the Orioles. Maybe their statue should fill the pedestal once occupied by two confederate generals on Art Museum Drive.

— Stan Heuisler, Baltimore