Heart to Heart with Anna

Brandon Lane Phillips, M.D. is a very special doctor -- he's a pediatric cardiologist who was also born with a severe congenital heart defect -- tetralogy of Fallot. In this episode of "Heart to Heart with Anna," Brandon talks to Anna about the people who have come in and out of his life and who have helped to shape him into the person he is today. He shares his medical journey with Anna, as well...

Megan Tones is a woman who was born with multiple congenital heart defects and who has undergone multiple medical procedures. In this episode of Heart to Heart with Anna, Megan details special considerations and precautions she underwent before (and during!) her travels to China, Egypt, and Japan. A native Australian, Megan has appreciated the beauty and majesty of these other countries and doesn'...

Returning Guest, Vicki Lucas, shares with Anna how care for her son, Alexander, has changed over time, especially as he has transitioned from pediatric care to care for an adult with a critical congenital heart defect. As a special education teacher, Vicki has worked very hard as Alexander's advocate and she shares what she has done to help him be an advocate for himself. She also gives tips to pa...

Hearts Unite the Globe (HUG) is full of news! Tune into this episode of Heart to Heart with Anna to hear about all of the activities in which HUG members are participating. In this episode of Heart to Heart with Anna, learn about upcoming training opportunities/retreats being sponsored by HUG -- retreats in Central Texas, Jerusalem, Israel, and Tuscon, Arizona! You'll also hear about a special awa...

Premiering August 6, 2019, Silent Cries: Breaking Through CHD Awareness is Phillip Wolf's latest documentary. With over forty types of CHDs, Silent Cries: Breaking Through CHD Awareness is produced to focus on children and adults born with heart defects and how they have inspired other families and individuals to never give up and continue their fight. There is hope, and advancements in technology...

Ann Koplow is an extraordinary Heart Warrior, blogger, and musician. Born in 1953, she is one of the oldest child survivors of heart block requiring pacemaker insertion. Despite many mechanical failures with her pacemaker, Ann has continued to have an upbeat, positive attitude. In today's program, Ann shares with Host Anna Jaworski what it was like growing up with heart block, how her ultimate hea...

Kathy Ware was born in 1974 with tricuspid atresia and pulmonary stenosis. Her first surgery occurred in her first year of life when she had a Potts shunt. At age 5, she had a central shunt inserted. In 1989 she had a Potts reconstruction and modified Blalock-Taussig shunt and then a classic Glenn procedure. All of these surgeries were done with the plan of having a Fontan Procedure, but she devel...

Marie O’Donnell is Heart Mom to Anna who was born with complex, congenital heart disease. Anna is a Fontan Warrior and has been a model cardiac patient for more than a decade. Anna was born with double outlet right ventricle, complete atrioventricular canal defect, patent ductus, heterotaxy syndrome, ADHD and anxiety disorder. Marie O’Donnell is a return Guest. During Season 2, Marie joined Kathy...

Antara Mondal was born with aortic stenosis and has undergone open-heart surgery. In this episode of Heart to Heart with Anna, Antara shares what it was like growing up with a congenital heart defect (CHD), how it affected her childhood and early adulthood and why she chose to study statistics at Carnegie Mellon University. She'll also explain to Anna what field of study she plans to pursue as a p...

Mended Little Hearts National Program Director Jodi Smith joins Anna in this episode to discuss the upcoming 2019 Mended Little Hearts Symposium and Leadership Summit in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Leadership Summit will occur on July 12th and the Symposium will occur on July 13th. You can register for the event here: https://mendedhearts.org/chd-symposium/ In this episode, Jodi tells Anna about how...

Beth Greenaway has an amazing story to share with Anna in this brand new episode of Heart to Heart with Anna. Beth helps Anna kick off Season 14 of this podcast for the CHD community by sharing her CHD journey and how she most recently came to deal with a number of harrowing experiences. As you can see by the cover photo, Beth Greenaway is a published author. She shares with Anna how she came to w...

This new episode of Heart to Heart with Anna featured Guest, Dr. Fred Wu from Boston Children's Hospital and he interacts with a live, studio audience to answer their questions regarding coronary artery disease in adults born with congenital heart defects. Tune in to hear why this situation is being talked about now more than ever before, what you can do to prevent or reduce the likelihood of cont...

Dr. Robert Pass is the Chief of Pediatric Cardiology and the co-director of the Pediatric Heart Center at The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in NYC. He is also the director of pediatric electrophysiology at the same institution. His career goals are to develop and perform cardiac procedures to help the cardiac health of children and adults with congenital heart disease. He has started a P...

Dr. Ami Bhatt is the featured Guest on this episode of Heart to Heart with Anna. Dr. Ami Bhatt is an active clinical cardiologist, clinical investigator, and educator. She has developed a robust multidisciplinary curriculum at Mass General to provide requisite ACHD education to cardiovascular fellows. Dr. Bhatt is dedicated to patient advocacy groups including the AHA and Adult Congenital Heart As...

In this episode of Heart to Heart with Anna, Dr. Liza Morton rejoins Anna to talk more about polyvagal theory, how feeling safe is important to those born with congenital heart defect, especially when they are in vulnerable conditions (such as when they're facing hospitalizations or experimental procedures) and how understanding the embodiment of their experiences can be both empowering and health...

Dr. Liza Morton, a Heart Warrior, is also a psychologist who really understands what it means to live with chronic illness. In this episode, she talks with Anna about a new theory that she feels will revolutionize people's understanding of living with chronic illness, her personal experiences from having open-heart surgery and having medical devices implanted and how those life experiences led to...

This week's featured episode discusses a very important topic -- transitioning our Heart Warriors from dependents to advocates -- and it doesn't happen overnight. Lisa Rodebaugh does an excellent job of sharing how she raised Andrew Rodebaugh so that he could become his own best advocate but this show is about so much more than that! Tune in to hear how Andrew Rodebaugh is not only an advocate for...

Skylar Griggs is a licensed registered dietitian and nutrition counselor specializing in a variety of nutrition-related conditions. She has experience working in pediatric and family nutrition as well as pre/post-natal nutrition, eating disorders, weight management, cardiac risk factors including hypertension, high cholesterol and obesity, diabetes, and overall wellness. Skylar is the lead dietiti...

Roseann Franco returns to "Heart to Heart with Anna" for another episode to talk about the lessons she has learned over the last five decades raising a son with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (also known as L-TGA). She shares with Anna what she did to try to make life as normal as possible for David and some of the ways she knew that David felt anything but normal. In t...

Roseann Franco is the mother of a Heart Warrior in his 50s. He was born when the field of pediatric cardiology was in its infancy. Tune in to hear Rosanne share stories with Anna about what it was like raising a Heart Warrior while working and going to school, not to mention raising four other children. Roseann shares her family history of congenital heart disease and the remarkable events surroun...

This episode of Heart to Heart with Anna features Executive Director of Championship Hearts Foundation Michelle Garcia and Board Member, Lisa Kattawar. Tune in to hear these ladies explain why they decided to join this nonprofit organization, what the organization's mission is and how you can attend the Heartbeats and Heroes 2019 Gala! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/p...

Allison Holmes is a 46-year-old survivor of CHD. She has seven defects and is also a cancer survivor. She feels that she is thriving with CHD.  She has been evaluated twice for the heart and lung transplant list but is not on the list at this time. Allison has Situs Inversus and her doctors are not sure how to hook up a healthy heart and lungs to the rest of her organs. She works as an ESL tutor f...

When David was born with a critical congenital heart defect, Monica's world changed completely. A former businesswoman, she soon discovered she would need to know more about medicine to take care of her afflicted son. This led to a career change that has helped countless others in the congenital heart defect community. Monica will share with Anna how her training helped her as a parent and what sh...

Dr. William Novick is a most unusual cardiothoracic surgeon who travels the world mending broken hearts in countries where many of these children would be left to succumb to their congenital heart defects. Together with his team, Dr. Novick does even more than mend broken hearts; however, since he also expends a great deal of time and energy teaching doctors, nurses and support staff in those coun...

Aubrey Byrnes is a rare mom - she's the mother of Wyatt Nathan Arthur Byrnes, aged 5, and Colton Paul Byrnes, aged 4. Wyatt was born 13 weeks premature and had a rough medical journey. Colton, AKA Superman without a Cape, was born with VACTERL Association, a disorder that affects many body systems. VACTERL stands for vertebral defects, anal atresia, cardiac defects, tracheo-esophageal fistula, ren...