Heart to Heart with Anna

In today's episode former Guests Jamie Alcroft and Michael Liben come on the program together to deliver a powerful portrayal of two sides of the organ donation coin -- with Jamie Alcroft we hear about what it means to be an organ donor recipient and with Michael Liben we discover what it means to be the family member of an organ donor whose life gave many other people hope. Tune in to hear Anna i...

Jamie Alcroft has been entertaining audiences as part of the comedy duo Mack & Jamie for over 35 years. His appearances with Mack on The Tonight Show both with Johnny Carson and Jay Leno led to 125 original episodes of the syndicated half-hour COMEDY BREAK WITH MACK & JAMIE. In this episode of "Heart to Heart with Anna," Jamie shares with Anna what happened in his life that required him to get a h...

Michael Liben is the Host of "Heart to Heart with Michael" and he is also the bereaved father of Liel Liben. In today's program, Michael discusses with Host, Anna Jaworski, why he and his family decided to donate Liel's organs when she died. He talks about the religious ramifications, who benefited from her donations and why he feels so strongly about organ donation. Become a supporter of this pod...

Farhan Ahmad is a social innovator and philanthropist who has devoted his life to helping children born in Pakistan with congenital heart defects. He is the founder & CEO of the Pakistan Children’s Heart Foundation, a non-governmental organization working to build a charity heart hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. His passion for helping children in Pakistan came from the loss of his daughter to congen...

El programa de hoy es uno de un par de programas que se presentarán durante esta serie de Spotlight que presenta Defectos cardíacos en todo el mundo. El programa de hoy está en español y el programa de la semana pasada fue en inglés. Nuestro programa presenta a la Anfitriona invitada, Marta Montero y la invitada, Jennifer Iguina. El programa de la semana pasada presentó a Jennifer Iguina y la anfi...

Today's program is one in a pair of programs to be presented during this Spotlight Series which features Heart Defects Around the Globe. Today's program is in English and next week's program will feature Guest Host, Marta Montero and Guest, Jennifer Iguina in Spanish. Today's program features Jennifer Iguina and Host, Anna Jaworski. This program focuses on how Jennifer discovered her son would be...

עידן וספיר ליבן משוחחים עם המנחה האורחת רחל גרינבוים על איך מתנהלים החיים במחיצתו של אחות בעלת מום לב מולד ואוטיזם. הם ישתפו אותנו בחוויותיהם כאחים לאחות יוצאת דופן ויספרו לנו איך היא העשירה את חייהם Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/heart-to-heart-with-anna--1256958/support .

In addition to getting a more in-depth perspective regarding growing up with a special needs sister, what sets this episode apart from other "Heart to Heart with Anna" episodes is the fact that it is our very first program in Hebrew. In addition to this episode being aired in English, Sapir and Idan Liben will then conduct an interview with Rachel Greenbaum in Hebrew. Hearts Unite the Globe: A Non...

Philippina Wijtmans, oftewel Pien, is de moeder van 3 kinderen: Rinske, Sven, en Kyle. Pien is een Nederlandse van geboorte, maar ze verhuisde naar Amerika vanwege haar man’s werk. Vandaag is ze als gast op de show “Heart to Heart with Anna.” Zij vertelt over haar ervaringen met haar zoon Kyle die ter wereld kwam met een aangeboren hartafwijking. Dit is de eerste show van “Heart to Heart with Anna...

Philippina Wijtmans, Pien for short, is the mother of 3 children – Rinske, Sven, and Kyle. Pien grew up in the Netherlands but moved to the USA due to her husband's job. Today on "Heart to Heart with Anna" Pien shares with Anna what it was like for her to be a Dutch mother in the United States when her son, Kyle, was born with a congenital heart defect. This is the first "Heart to Heart with Anna"...

What was it like for Sapir and Idan to live with a sister who had special needs? How did it affect them as they grew up? How did their sister's death affect them? What advice do these young adults have for other siblings living with a sibling with special needs? Today's Guests, Sapir and Idan talk to Anna about Liel's special needs (both medical and communication) and how they feel living with her...

Lauren Bednarz was born with a very complex heart defect requiring multiple surgeries. Her older brother Ryan Celeskey and her younger brother Aaron Celeskey talk about what it was like growing up with a sister with a special heart. Ryan talks about what it was like going to school with a younger sister others wanted to pick on. Aaron talks about what it's like for him now, living with his sister...

Debbie Gilmore was pregnant with her son Brandon when her older child, Matthew, passed away due to complications from his open-heart surgery to fix his congenital heart defect. Today Brandon will share with us what it has been like to be a Rainbow Baby -- a baby born after a sibling dies. He will tell us about the void he has felt with the loss of his brother, another unexpected sibling loss and h...

Kristi Gimpel has a remarkable story. As a little girl, her younger sister had to undergo multiple open-heart surgeries. Kristi tells Anna about who took care of her, how she felt about her sister, especially when other children were curious about her sister's condition and how her mother taught her to be an advocate instead of being angry. Unbeknownst to Kristi, her first child would also be born...

Usman Shahid is the older brother of Nauman Shahid. In this episode of "Heart to Heart with Anna" Usman shares with Anna what it was like for him to grow up with two younger siblings with special needs. He talks about what he remembers from Nauman's open-heart surgeries, what it was like to relocate to the United States from Pakistan, what it was like to have a sister with Down Syndrome and how hi...

Daniel Sadjak shares with Anna what it was like to grow up in a family with heart-healthy siblings and one sibling born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). He talks about his earliest memories, what it was like going to school with his brother and how his relationship with his brother has changed over time. Now that both brothers are adult-aged, the brothers have a more mature relationshi...

Sisters Amy and Jessica Cowin share a special secret. They have both been touched by organ donation and transplantation. Jessica was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome or HLHS and needed a heart transplant. As if that wasn't stressful enough, Jessica learned that her kidneys were failing and if she didn't get a transplant, she would have to go on dialysis. Leave it to younger sister, Amy, t...

In today's program Katie Hunt talks about what it was like to grow up with tetralogy of Fallot and how she longed for a sister or brother. She talks about what it was like to be bullied in school and how that experience led her to move to a new school and to develop a relationship with a little girl that would blossom into a full-fledged sisterhood, not only for Katie and Amanda but for their moth...

Roseann Franco Bischoff is David Franco's big sister. She shares with Anna what it was like for her growing up in a house full of siblings where she had a lot of responsibility and how that became amplified when her brother David was born with congenitally corrected transposition of the great vessels. She shares how having a chronically ill brother affected the family, what her relationship was li...

In today's episode, big brother Joey Jaworski, talks about what it was like growing up with a brother with hypoplastic left heart syndrome or HLHS. He shares some of his earliest memories with Anna (who also happens to be his mother), talks about ways he believes he helped his brother and ways that he believes parents can help their heart warriors and heart-healhy children. He discusses ways he st...

Today on "Heart to Heart with Anna" Ayrton Beatty talks with Anna about growing up in Scotland with her brother Edward. She tells Anna what they had in common, what it was like going to school together, what friends they had and how she communicates with some of those friends today. She also shares what it was like to discover that her brother had a congenital heart defect. She shares how, 18 year...

Steffe Becker is in a unique position. She is the sister to a brother with a congenital heart defect (CHD). She was born with a heart defect herself and she is the mother of twins. One of the twins was born with a heart defect. Tune in to today's program to hear what life was like for Steffe growing up in the 1970s and 1980s with a heart defect and what it was like to have children in the 2000s --...

Jeff is the oldest of three siblings, born in 1977, and the only son to Chris and Jeff Sr. Jeff was just over 4 years old, when Jennifer was born with a congenital heart defect. Growing up, he was responsible for walking Jennifer to the school they both attended and babysitting both sisters. He enjoyed playing most sports, especially hockey, which he still plays. Jessica Weiner, at 32, is the hear...

Who would ever believe that an Olympic athlete harbored a hidden heart defect for decades? What happened to Olympic Silver Medalist Paul Wylie? How did he survive sudden cardiac arrest? Tune in today to "Heart to Heart with Anna" to hear Paul's story and the amazing secret his heart carried for decades before, not only being discovered, but nearly costing him his life! Listen as Paul shares what h...

Beth Greenaway was an extremely competitive athlete despite the fact that she was born with a pulmonary valve problem which required surgery in her childhood. Join us today as she describes the kind of problems she encountered after falling out of medical care for over a decade, how her athletic prowess was affected and what kind of treatment she needed in order to continue to be an athlete. Beth...