Heart to Heart with Anna Anna Jaworski

Who is Oyauma Garrison? What is ‘A Kid Again’ and how can that organization help the congenital heart defect community? What services do ‘A Kid Again’ provide?
Oyauma Garrison is the President and CEO of A Kid Again, Inc, a nonprofit organization that provides ongoing, cost-free adventures for children facing life-threatening conditions. A Kid Again provides hope, happiness, and healing through ongoing fun activities called Adventures. These adventures are available to the whole family and are always entirely free of charge.

Prior to his involvement in the charity, Oyauma was an insurance company executive of over 20 years. He currently serves as a Director on the Board of Buckeye Insurance.
Active in the community, Oyauma has received numerous awards for leadership and community service. He has received an honorary doctorate degree from Franklin University for Community Leadership.
Oyauma received his bachelor’s degree from Denison University and his MBA from Franklin University. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Oyauma is married to Dr. Sacheen Garrison and the proud father of Mya, Cameron, and Carter.
Links mentioned during this episode:

A Kid Again website:  https://akidagain.org/
Make-A-Wish:  https://wish.org/
Nationwide Children's Hospital: https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/

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Why would parents of a child with a congenital heart defect start a podcast? Why would they write a book? What does this dynamic duo hope to achieve when it comes to helping the congenital heart defect (CHD) community?

Tom and Kat Hansen are parents to 9-year-old daughter Audrey and 7-year-old son Harding. In 2014, Harding was diagnosed with multiple congenital heart defects in utero, for which he has undergone three open-heart surgeries and multiple other procedures.

Inspired by their journey with Harding, they wrote a book, and then they started a podcast, The Hope and Courage Podcast for CHD Parents, where they share their insights and interview experts and people with a lived experience of CHD. Their book Hope and Courage: Real-Life Lessons from the Parents of a Child with Congenital Heart Disease will be released in 2022.

A former high school math teacher, Tom is currently a corporate trainer and instructional designer. In addition to caring for their children, Kat runs the Hope and Courage platform. The family lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and enjoys going on adventures together.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Tom and Kat's website: https://www.tomandkathansen.com/

Tom and Kat's Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/tomandkathansen/

Tom and Kat's podcast: https://www.tomandkathansen.com/podcast

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How can having an atrial septal defect, or ASD, affect a baby’s growth and development? Specifically, could an ASD be responsible for feeding issues? What are the dangers of surgeons operating on a baby too soon if their congenital heart defect (CHD) is an ASD?
Amna Saeed Salman is the author of Style Stripped, a prominent fashion and lifestyle blog in Pakistan. She is also Mom to beautiful 4-year-old twin boys. One of the boys was diagnosed with a 24mm atrial septal defect at age 1. Amna researched surgery options in England, Pakistan, and America and received differing opinions. Watching her son struggle to keep up with his brother, she decided to go for the surgery when he was 20 months of age. Amna noticed an immediate improvement in her son and today he is thriving. 

In this episode of "Heart to Heart with Anna," Amna talks with Anna about her son's medical journey, some of the differences between medical treatment of CHDs in Pakistan and abroad, and how she has become a CHD advocate.

Here is a link to an article referencing Amna's blog

Here is an article about another team having a medical mission to Pakistan

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How can a person’s spirituality help her when it comes to coping with her congenital heart defect? What spiritual practices can help Heart Warriors? Why would a Heart Warrior be willing to talk about her spirituality?
Allison  Holmes was born in 1972 with seven heart defects, and she is also a cancer survivor. She has been evaluated twice for the heart and lung transplant list but is not on the list at this time. Since Allison has Situs Inversus, doctors are not sure how to hook up a healthy heart and lungs to the rest of her organs. At present, her heart condition seems to be stable, but she is dealing with pulmonary hypertension. She works as an ESL tutor from home and volunteers with Meals on Wheels and Carolina Waterfowl Rescue. She is also an Adult Congenital Heart Association Ambassador for North Carolina. Allison feels that her spiritual beliefs have helped her through her CHD journey.   
In the first segment, we’ll meet Allison and discover a little bit more about her health journey. The 2nd Segment will involve us learning more about how her spirituality has helped her on that journey and in the last segment, we will learn about Allison’s future.

Links mentioned during the episode:

Allison's "Heart to Heart with Anna" episode: 'Thriving with CHD'

Belen Blanton's foundation
Fundacion Estrellita de Belen

Adult Congenital Heart Association 
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Loyal Listeners of "Heart to Heart with Anna" fill the studio in this extra-special episode. They celebrate the 8th anniversary of the podcast by sharing who they are in the congenital heart defect (CHD) community, what episodes are their favorites and why, as well as what they would like to hear on "Heart to Heart with Anna" in 2022.

Episodes and Organizations mentioned in this show

Amy M Le
https://62761.buzzsprout.com/62761/8324425-vietnamese-refugee-author-heart-warrior
https://62761.buzzsprout.com/62761/8667060-a-surprise-for-heart-warrior-amy-m-le

Ellen Banoub

Belen Blanton
Fundacion Estrellita de Belen - https://fundacionestrellitadebelen.org/
Guerreros Del Corazon - https://www.hug-podcastnetwork.com/guerreros-del-corazoacuten.html

Lisa Schaffer



Michael, Lisa, Mabel, and Maggie Olivares

Heidi Ingvaldson

Tony Codaro

Appu George
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Lorrie Hill grew up in Texas, mostly Houston and Dallas. She was born with a single ventricle heart and has had four open-heart surgeries in her 25 years, including a pulmonary artery band and bi-directional Glenn shunt. She was listed for a heart transplant on February 24th, 2020. During this time, she graduated with honors from Texas A & M and moved to Houston to be closer to Texas Children's Hospital and to start her master of public health degree.

Unfortunately, due to increased symptoms and increased physical decline, Lorrie was admitted to the hospital in early February 2021 to finish the wait for her transplant. After seven weeks of being inpatient, Lorrie received her new heart on March 31st, 2021. After a bout of rejection and two biopsies in the first 3.5 weeks post-transplant, Lorrie was able to go home and continue the recovery process there.

Lorrie has been a Guest on "Heart to Heart with Anna" previously to share what it was like for her as she began to decline. She wanted to help others understand what it was like to go into congestive heart failure and have to make critical decisions for end-of-life care. We appreciate how earnest she has been with us and how much she has shared her own personal journey to help others who might be facing the same situation.

Links to Lorrie's other episodes:

Waiting for a Heart
Still Waiting for a Heart
8th Anniversary Special: Part 1

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