Heart to Heart with Anna

Sometimes our littlest heart heroes need extraordinary help in order to survive. One of the most extraordinary machines used to save our babies born with congenital heart defects is known as ECMO which stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. This is a special machine that takes blood from the body, oxygenates it using an artificial lung, and pumps it back into the body using an artificial...

It is not uncommon for children who have undergone open-heart surgery to have some developmental delays. Are these delays severe enough for them to qualify for special services? What happens when our children with congenital heart defects have developmental issues, but they aren't delayed enough to qualify for Early Childhood or Special Education programs? What recourse do parents have? Will insur...

What happens when you are pregnant and go in for a routine ultrasound only to discover your baby has a heart defect? How do you handle the news? What options are you given? Even though congenital heart defects are the number one birth defect, there aren't many people who talk about it and it's not a widely known fact. Today we'll talk with three mothers who have been there -- who found out in uter...

Congenital heart defects (or CHDs) are the number one birth defect and yet, this is one of the best-kept secrets! How do members of the CHD community change all of that? Our Guests today include a young woman born with a critical congenital heart defect and her mother. For over 30 years this dynamic duo have been dealing with congenital heart defects -- beating the odds and surviving at a time whe...

Congenital heart defects are the number one birth defect yet there are few movies depicting members of the congenital heart defect (CHD) community or CHD themes. "Silent Cries" is a movie written by the father of a child with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. What makes "Silent Cries" so touching is how it has brought the CHD community together in ways unforeseen when it was first conceptualized. O...

What happens when you're born with a congenital heart defect but have the opportunity to lead a normal, healthy life until you reach adulthood but then your whole world gets upended when your heart becomes the focus of your existence? How can a person go from feeling just like everyone else to realizing her heart is special and unique and that it also needs tender, loving care? What's a person in...

When a person is born with a broken heart, parents must face a multitude of decisions -- many life-threatening and terrifying. As children age, they themselves become aware of their heart problems and face their own mortality. Many of us in the heart defect community (CHD) have faced the death of loved ones or friends. How does being a member of the CHD community take a toll on its members? What a...

What kills 1000 people a day or one person every two minutes? What kills more people annually than breast cancer, lung cancer and HIV/AIDs combined? What is one event that kills most of the people who suffer from it, but who could possibly be saved? The answer is sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Today's show will be about the survivor of, not one but over 140 sudden cardiac arrests, and his wife. We'l...

Infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is not usually done for the same reasons that adults have CPR performed on them. Whereas adult CPR is very commonly performed for sudden cardiac arrest, infant CPR may need to be performed in a number of situations. Who should learn Infant CPR? Why is it important? Who is qualified to perform Infant CPR? What resources are available online to help people...

The most common cyanotic congenital heart defect that presents in the first month after birth is transposition of the great arteries (TGA) -- dextro-TGA (d-TGA) and levo-TGA (l-TGA) or congenitally corrected TGA (also known as cc-TGA). Because cc-TGA is rarer than d-TGA, it's not often spoken about. On this show we'll have two adult survivors with cc-TGA talk about what it's like living with cc-TG...

Children who are born with complex congenital heart defects and require open-heart surgery in the first year of life are more at risk for having brain injuries which will result in problems learning speech, language and academic skills. Who is most at risk? Are there certain heart defects that result in more learning problems later than others? What can parents do to help their children who have t...

Congenital heart defects claim far too many Heart Warriors' lives. It is a leading cause of death amongst newborns and consequently, there are a lot of bereaved parents suffering the loss of their precious babies. How does a parent survive the loss of their child for even one day, much less during the holiday season? Join us on Heart to Heart with Anna as we debunk some common myths about losing a...

So many of us parents were told that our children wouldn't survive to adulthood decades ago. It's a different world now, with most children born with congenital heart defects having better surgeries and better outcomes than ever before! But what about the transitions parents have to make? As our CHD Warriors go from being children to adults, how does our relationships change? What about medical de...

It seems that most teens and young adults go through a normal period of rebellion. Some only grow out their hair (or get it cut in some trendy fashion), others get tattoos or piercings. It's common for young adults and teens to experiment with alcohol, even before they should do so legally. What happens when the person rebelling was born with a congenital heart defect? Today's show will feature tw...

Is it safe to use non-traditional medicine with babies and children who were born with congenital heart defects? Do others in the heart community use non-traditional medicine? Why would a parent consider using complementary and alternative medicine with their children born with heart defects? Today's show will feature Carolyn Harrington, the owner of Maty's Healthy Products. Carolyn is the mother...

How can members of the congenital heart defect (CHD) community lobby for change in today's laws in the United States? One thing they can do is to come together as a unified group to speak to their lawmakers and request, in a collective voice, for changes to occur. This is how the Congenital Heart Futures Act came into effect. Members of the Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA) organized a coa...

Have you ever wondered what Eisenmenger's Syndrome is? Who gets it? What are the symptoms? How does it affect a person's body from childhood to adulthood? What changes occur with the aging survivor? Carolyn Robinson, a long-time Eisenmenger Syndrome Survivor will answer these questions and more as she details her life story of being diagnosed with this condition and surviving long enough to become...

As the parent of a child with a life-threatening heart defect, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the new "heart world" the family is immediately part of. On this show two mothers who have children with critical congenital heart defects (CHDs) will discuss how they became empowered members of the CHD community by tapping into ways to help others in their community. Wayverly Mouse-Evangelista will sh...

One of the most helpless feelings in the world is being told your child has a congenital heart defect, will need surgery and will have a lifetime of follow-up appointments and untold future procedures. Some parents have great difficulty dealing with this kind of stress, all parents suffer post-traumatic stress syndrome after they hand their children over to a surgeon without knowing if they'll eve...

What author and public figure has had a child born with a congenital heart defect? What efforts has this person taken to spread awareness of congenital heart defects? Our special guest, Bret Baier, is working hard to promote his book about congenital heart defects with a grateful heart since his son, Paul, is a survivor. Bret Baier works for Fox News and is the host of Special Report. He will shar...