Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect in the world, yet there is still no cure. For children born with complex CHD, survival often depends on multiple open-heart surgeries and, in many cases, heart transplantation. While these treatments can extend life, they do not resolve the underlying condition.

Heart transplants also come with significant challenges. The average transplanted heart lasts only about 10 years, and because the organ is not built from the patient’s own cells, recipients require lifelong immunosuppressant medications that can lead to serious side effects, increased risk of infection, and reduced quality of life. Many patients also face the possibility of additional transplants over time.

For these children and families, current treatment options are not enough. We are extending life, but we are not curing the disease. What’s needed is a new approach—one focused on rebuilding hearts and creating lasting solutions for the future.

Building the Cure is a women-founded, Colorado-based nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness for complex congenital heart disease and supporting regenerative medicine research focused on rebuilding human hearts.

Congenital heart disease affects 1 in every 100 children worldwide, yet complex CHD remains significantly underfunded despite the lifelong challenges many patients face.

Through advocacy, education, partnerships, and fundraising, we are working to accelerate breakthrough science and bring life-changing innovation closer to the children and families who need it most.

Desiree Freris is the Founder and President of Building the Cure Foundation, created with one goal: to help find a cure for complex congenital heart disease.

In 2018, her daughter, Katerina, was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a rare and life-threatening condition in which a child is born with only half a functioning heart. Within days of her birth, Katerina underwent her first open-heart surgery, followed by multiple additional surgeries and months spent in intensive care while facing a lifelong condition with no cure.

In the midst of uncertainty, Desiree discovered the groundbreaking work of Dr. Doris Taylor, whose research focuses on growing human hearts using a patient’s own stem cells. For the first time, there was hope, not just for survival, but for a future without transplant rejection.

Inspired by this possibility, Desiree met with Dr. Taylor and went on to create Building the Cure Foundation to raise awareness and directly support the research that could one day give children like Katerina a full and healthy life.

Today, she is dedicated to advancing this mission, turning personal experience into purpose, and hope into action. A mother of three, Desiree previously built her career in business and professional services, beginning on Wall Street as a fixed income trader and now as a municipal advisor. In addition, she now focuses much of her effort on the altruistic goal of raising awareness and funding to help cure heart disease.

Today, regenerative medicine is changing what may be possible.

Building the Cure supports groundbreaking research led by Dr. Doris Taylor, a pioneer in stem cell science and heart regeneration who has spent more than 25 years working to create fully bioengineered, patient-specific hearts.

The process begins with a donor heart that is carefully decellularized, meaning all living cells are removed, leaving behind a natural scaffold known as a “Ghost Heart.” This scaffold preserves the heart’s structure and vascular system. Scientists then introduce stem cells derived from the patient, allowing new heart tissue to grow within the framework.

Inside specialized bioreactor systems, the cells receive oxygen, nutrients, pressure, and gentle electrical stimulation to help guide development. Over time, the cells organize, connect, and begin beating together, transforming the scaffold into living heart tissue.

Because these hearts are built using a patient’s own cells, this technology has the potential to dramatically reduce transplant rejection, eliminate the need for lifelong immunosuppressant medications, and improve long-term outcomes for children living with complex CHD.

While the research is still advancing toward human application, the progress is real. Dr. Taylor’s team can now generate billions of heart cells and continues refining the technology needed to build fully functioning human hearts.

This is more than a scientific breakthrough - it is a new vision for the future of heart care. One focused not only on survival, but on rebuilding hearts, restoring lives, and creating lasting cures.