Raising Hope: Two Westport Families Started Foundations for Rare Medical Conditions, Inspired by Their Own Children

Westport Lifestyle Magazine

August 2024

Article by Sarah Gaynes Levy

The Greenfield Family: Hearts in Harmony

When Shea, now 2, was born, she “basically flat-lined” at birth, says her mom, Kira Greenfield.  Doctors were able to stabilize her, but on her second day of life, she was soon near cardiac arrest again.  An EKG showed an abnormally long QT interval, the electrical recharge your heart takes between beats.  A blood test confirmed Shea had Long QT Syndrome, and a rare type at that, since neither Kira nor her husband mark were carriers of it, and the condition usually has a genetic link.

Last year, Kira and Mark connected with a specialist in Long QT at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Michael Ackerman, when Shea was 8 months old.  “He mentioned what he was doing in his lab to work on a cure and better treatments.  I said to him ‘we need to do more.  I feel powerless.’ I asked it we could throw an event and have the funds go to his lab.”  The answer was yes, and the Greenfields got to work on Shake it For Shea, a dance party at Fairfield’s Warehouse at FTC benefitting Dr. Ackerman’s Sudden Death Genomics Lab.  The event was a huge success, and Kira realized that she didn’t want it to be a one-time thing.  “I decided” What’s more meaningful than running a foundation?” The Hearts in Harmony Foundation, their 501(C)(3), officially launched in November 2023, and the second Shake It For Shea, held this past June, raised $440,000 for Dr. Ackerman’s lab.  “It might be called Shake It For Shea, but we’re doing everything we can to help not just Shea, but so many other people have the best quality of life and hopefully love as long as possible.  I wake up now with so much hope.”

To learn more, visit

Heartsinharmonyfoundation.org