The Powerful Message Behind This Photo of Babies With Beautiful Chest Scars

A strong mom is using one photo to take a stand for all of the babies that go through life with heart defects — and it's beyond stunning.

Kelly Blumenthal is the proud mother of Finn, a 1-year-old little boy born with a rare combination of heart defects. According to Kelly, doctors didn't think he would survive birth — let alone his first year — but after spending his entire life in the hospital and enduring 10 different surgeries, he is now thriving at home.

Although Finn has already undergone open-heart surgery at such a young age, he will need at least two more operations before the age of 3. These major procedures have left him with a large chest scar as proof of what he has already overcome. And despite Finn's strength, he is not the only little one facing this struggle.

"Before we were placed on this journey, we had never heard of congenital heart defect (CHD) so when we received the diagnosis at 19 weeks pregnant, we felt pretty alone," Kelly wrote.

In order to spread CHD awareness and let other families know that it affects one in 100 babies, Kelly reached out to other local families to take a stunning group photo of their babies proudly boasting their chest scars. "All of these babies were operated on around the same time, in the same hospital, by the same doctor," wrote Kelly. "You can see all of their scars, but they are so perfect and beautiful. It's a vision of hope."