Carly Paganas, is a designer, mother, and Carlsbad Resident. Carly is the owner and creator of Green Eyed Treasures. A local mom owned jewelry company with beautiful handmade gemstone bracelets. She concentrates all of her love, positivity and integrity into her art. Each piece can be personalized to the client’s liking. Carly’s inspiration and passion for her jewelry company comes from her unique perspective on life after her first child was born with a congenital heart defect that had gone undiagnosed for months until she nearly lost her at 6 months old. Her daughter had gone into cardiac arrest in the ER and was placed on life support. Once her baby’s heart was strong enough they performed open heart bypass surgery. Since undergoing the surgery their daughter continues to surpass the doctor's expectations. You could say "mother's intuition" helped save her. She also attributes her child’s survival to their family’s faith and the amazing work of dedicated doctors. Blessed by their miracle baby she and her husband John Paganas wanted to give back to children born with congenital heart defects which is the #1 birth defect.
The Paganas family with Ted Wagner, another “heart parent” organized the first Heart Walk in Orange County. At the time the family was living there. This year’s Heart Walk is on Sunday September 17, 2017 at Irvine Regional Park in Orange California. Since the start of the Heart Walk, 2 years ago, they have raised over 125,000. This is their third year of coordinating the walk for The Adult Congenital Heart foundation and the Children’s Heart Foundation; both are national non-profit foundations. The Congenital Heart Walk is it's own foundation and evenly distributes the funds raised to both of these foundations for research. Although the walk is in Orange County, their top fundraising teams last year came from San Diego and Riverside.
Her jewelry company Green Eyed Treasures donates 5% of each sale to the Children's Heart Foundation. Carly dreams of the day that her company is able to give more.
CHD's are the #1 birth defect in the U.S. and 20% of babies do not make it to their first birthdays. More kids die of a CHD than all childhood cancers combined each year. Her family wants to continue sharing their daughter’s inspiring story of hope, love, and positivity. There is no cure for Congenital Heart Disease, it is a lifelong battle. Although some kids and adults like their daughter appear healthy- they will battle CHD for their entire life. Her daughter is an active child like any other. She attends school in Carlsbad, is a proud Girl Scout and loves gymnastics. Carly and her husband John have been overwhelmed with the response and involvement from the community that the walk has received. Last year the Paganas family was especially appreciative of the support from the Leiterman and Hitzke family.
