Heart to Heart with Anna

Anita Moreno Marcelo, as the mother of a son with a congenital heart defect (CHD), penned a poem that touched many lives in the CHD community. In this episode of "Heart to Heart with Anna" she talks about why she wrote the poem entitled "The Presence of Greatness," what it meant to her and why she feels it's important for us to talk about how adults with CHDs are treated in medical settings and wh...

When a parent has a normally healthy child, it's easy to take a day for granted. Conversely, when a parent gives birth to a special needs child, every day takes on new importance. When a parent has a child with a life-threatening illness, each day can seem like a miracle. How do parents of children with congenital heart defects make each day special? How do parents of CHD survivors make memories e...

Join us today as we talk with Heart Dads, Chris Perez and Michael Madsen about how they made decisions regarding childcare and work after having a child with a critical congenital heart defect. When a family is told they have a baby with a life-threatening illness, does one of the parents have to stay home with the child? Why do some parents choose to become stay-at-home parents? Why do some paren...

How can you identify a good babysitter or daycare when looking for a facility to care for a child with a congenital heart defect? Is it ever appropriate to leave a child with a congenital heart defect in the care of someone else? What can parents do to ease the transition if they have decided to place their children in daycare or in the care of a babysitter? Do children in daycare or in the care o...

Breastfeeding a baby with a congenital heart defect has unique and special challenges. Many babies with critical congenital heart defects are taken away from the mother before having a chance to nurse at all. These babies also frequently have open-heart surgery within the first days or weeks of life and are often intubated and paralyzed which can interfere with the baby's natural sucking reflex. H...

Boys born with critical congenital heart defects are frequently not able to participate in sports like their heart-healthy peers. Because of the multiple surgeries needed, the frequent need for pacemakers or the concern about arrhythmias and the other complications that can accompany critical congenital heart defects, survivors of these defects frequently have to avoid contact sports or sports tha...

"Rainbow babies" are babies who are conceived after women have experienced a stillbirth or after a baby has died. We will discuss the process one woman has decided to go through in order to have her own rainbow baby, who is helping her and how others who have lost a baby to a congenital heart defect might find hope in giving birth to a healthy baby. What are the concerns a mother might have in get...

Congenital Heart Defect (or CHD) Awareness is an extremely important issue. Congenital heart defects (heart defects present at birth) are the #1 Birth Defect. While a commonly reported statistic is 1 in 100 babies are born with a heart defect, that statistic does NOT include the most common CHD – bicuspid aortic valve. In fact, that statistic does NOT include a number of CHDs. That means that more...

With more children with complex, congenital heart defects, or CHDs, living beyond their first year of life than ever before, parents and the professionals working with those children need to know what normal development is for this group of survivors. What kind of behaviors are normal or common? Is it to be expected that the majority of these children will be labeled “Failure to Thrive”? Is it com...

There are over one million adults alive with a congenital heart defect or CHD. Many surgeries performed on survivors are corrective but not curative. The non-cardiac health issues that seem to appear fairly regularly include, but are not limited to: problems with teeth, (i.e. an abscess, needing wisdom teeth removed or needing braces); scoliosis; problems with legs or feet requiring braces or surg...

The heart is an extremely complicated organ. The muscle on one side of the heart differs from the muscle on the other side of the heart. There are valves that open and close allowing blood to travel to different parts of the heart, to the body and/or to the lungs. The heart has its own unique electrical system. There are structures inside the heart separating different chambers from one another. I...

Although congenital heart defects are the number one birth defect, typically newborns have not been screened for heart defects before leaving the hospital. This has tragically led to some newborns passing away from undiagnosed congenital heart defects, sometimes in their mother’s arms. This was the case for Kristine McCormick when her seemingly healthy daughter Cora passed away in her arms. It was...

Congenital heart defects, the #1 birth defect, affect at least 1 in 100 babies born throughout the world yet when asked what causes heart defects, most doctors have had to admit they don’t really know. Many doctors tell parents that their children’s heart defects are “flukes of nature.” Occasionally heart defects are linked to particular diseases mothers were exposed to while pregnant, drugs they...

Guest, Jordan D. Marcia joins Guest Host, Megan Tones again this week. He talks to her about his goal to visit countries all over the world and how he has traveled to many different countries. Jordan and Megan share some travel stories and tips for other Heart Warrior travelers. You won't want to miss this fun, adventurous show! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/...

Jordan Marcia is an amazing survivor! He shares with Guest Host, Megan Tones, his unconventional medical history which included being born with transposition of the great arteries, multiple failed surgeries to palliate his heart condition, the development of a potentially-threatening lung condition known as plastic bronchitis and then the miracle of a heart transplant that eliminated the plastic b...

Vikas Mahajan is a heart transplant recipient who was fortunate enough to have the benefit of modern medicine to enable him to wait for 3 years for a transplant. Born with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, he has had to endure the implantation of pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators or ICDs and a left-ventricular assist device (also known as an LVAD). His ultimate surgery, cardiac transp...

Jim Murrell is commonly known on YouTube as "The Transplant Helper" due to his YouTube channel full of episodes helping the transplant community. Jim was born with a congenital heart defect known as transposition of the great arteries. The Mustard Procedure helped Jim to live until adulthood and then he began having problems. Listen to find out what kind of rhythm issues Jim had and what was requi...

Melanie Slavinski talks with Anna about her son's medical journey in living with a congenital heart defect. Xavier's heart defect, cardiomyopathy, resulted in his need for a heart transplant. Join Anna and Melanie as they discuss Xavier's journey, including the use of ECMO, a Berlin Heart prior to transplantation and more! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heart-...

Former professional soccer player, Chuck Estrada, shares his heart journey with Anna on this episode of "Heart to Heart with Anna." Chuck describes how he was born with transposition of the great arteries in 1974, the surgeries he required over time and the events that caused him to travel down a totally new and previously unexplored path by him. Chuck describes how his mother helped him to pursue...

Shannon Arriaga is the mother of a child who was born with a critical, congenital heart defect. Eric was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and he ended up having a Fontan Procedure. Shortly after the Fontan Procedure, he developed a life-threatening condition known as protein-losing enteropathy or PLE. For more information about PLE, check out this link: https://www.chop.edu/conditions-dis...

This episode features returning Guests Amy and Jessica Cowin. Amy Cowin was featured in Season 11 of "Heart to Heart with Anna" in the Heart Warrior Siblings series. She is a heart-healthy sister. Jessica Cowin is Amy's older sister who was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and was featured in Episode 3 of Season 1 of "Heart to Heart with Anna." Jessica has had both a heart and kidney tran...

Returning Guest, David Franco, talks with Anna about what it's like to go into congestive heart failure and the new issues he is facing when considering medical end-of-life care. He talks about how his congenital heart defect has affected his activity level over the course of his life and what changes he has seen in the last several years. Most importantly, David talks about the importance of each...

Returning Guest, Dana Henning, shares with Anna what it was like for her family to find out in utero that her baby would be born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and how they were prepared for their son to need surgical intervention but how they were in for a greater shock after he was born. Dana reveals the unusual conditions regarding her son's physiology that forced the family to accept tha...

Darryl Wallis is a 32-year-old pharmacist in Toronto, Canada. Because of a genetic mutation called MHY11, Darryl was born with a constellation of problems with his gastrointestinal tract. The extremely rare condition Darryl was born with is known as gastric-intestinal pseudo-obstruction. When Darryl was 20, he received a quadruple organ transplant, which included his stomach, small and large intes...

Christiana Whallon's daughter, Jaylee, was listed for a heart transplant due to being born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and going into congestive heart failure. In this episode, Christiana shares with Anna what it was like watching her daughter's health decline to the point where she had to be listed for a heart, what preparing for the transplant process was like for her family, and how sh...