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Hope for Young Hearts was first introduced to the public through Instagram in August, 2025. Our objective is to build a platform spreading awareness about children's heart disease and supporting young patients and families through education.
Our ultimate goal is to reach hearts around the world through creative media campaign; with an experienced team in graphic design, we ensure that each and every one of our post shares care and credibility.
At Hope for Young Hearts, every post beats with purpose.
Who We Are
Who We Are
Introducing Hope for Young Heart's mission, target audience, and specific childhood heart diseases that we wish to focus on.
Youth Council
Youth Council
Releasing youth council applications for passionate individuals that wish to be apart of our initiatives.
World Heart Day
World Heart Day
Recognizing World Heart Day by learning the consequences of heart diseases and the importance for communities across the world to encourage healthier lifestyles together.
SOCIAL MEDIA BLOG
What is Children's Heart Disease?
What is Children's Heart Disease?
🫀About one in every 100 children has a heart problem, which generally falls into one of two categories: congenital heart disease, or defects that are present at birth, and acquired heart disease that develops as the child gets older. These conditions can impact how blood flows through the body, how well oxygen is delivered to organs, and how strong and healthy the heart remains. Symptoms can vary widely as some children show signs right after birth, while others may not develop noticeable symptoms until later. Thus, warning signs to watch out for include trouble breathing, poor growth, fatigue, or bluish skin and lips.
Side Effects
🩸As the heart cannot pump blood effectively, oxygen and nutrients do not reach the body’s organs as well as they should. This can lead to trouble breathing, fatigue, and swelling areas like the feet, ankles, stomach, or face. Infants may struggle with feeding, grow more slowly, and finally to gain healthy weight. Older children and teens may feel weak, get tired easily, and have shortness of breath, especially during physical activity. Over time, untreated heart failure can also damage other organs such as the lungs, liver, and kidneys because of poor circulation and fluid buildup.
Treatment
💊For many children, medications are usually the first step to treatment. Drugs like diuretics can reduce fluid buildup and make it easier for the heart to work, while other medications lower blood pressure or improve circulation. In cases where heart rhythm is abnormal, a pacemaker or a procedure called ablation may be used to help the heart beat regularly. Some children may need surgery to repair congenital heart defects, such as fixing holes between chambers or replacing damaged valves. For the most severe cases, advanced treatments like mechanical pumps, ECMO, or even a heart transplant may be required.
Conclusion
🏥While the idea of children’s heart diseases can sound overwhelming, early diagnosis, constant medical care, and healthy lifestyle habits can make a large difference. With the right medical treatment and emotional support, many children with heart conditions go on to live active, fulfilling lives.
Meet our Team
Meet our Team
🫂Hope for Young Hearts is excited to introduce our Youth Council, made up of 26 passionate executives from schools across the York Region District School Board. To build a diverse and dynamic team, we brought together students from six high schools: Bayview Secondary School, The Bishop Strachan School, St. Robert Catholic High School, Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School, Holy Trinity School, and Markville Secondary School. Each executive plays a key role in logistics, marketing, finance, or fundraising, helping our team stay organized as we raise awareness about how heart disease affects children and their families. With such a dedicated Youth Council leading the way, we are excited for all that this year has in store!
Ignite Fair
Ignite Fair
Hope for Young Hearts had an amazing time attending the Ignite Fair X YRES Volunteer Fair! @ignite.fair @york.education
🎃This annual volunteer fair for youth aged 12-30 took place on October 25, 2025 at the Thornhill Community Center. The event connected youth volunteers with over 40 nonprofit organizations presenting a wide range of volunteer opportunities. Since its inaugural event in 2014, Ignite Fair has hosted nine volunteer fairs, reached over 7,900 people through its events and initiatives, facilitated more than 29,000 volunteer hours, and featured over 400 organizations dedicated to community impact.
👥At this fair, Hope for Young Hearts was able to engage over 150 youth at our booth, raising awareness of children’s heart diseases. We had event attendees write encouraging messages on a board of kindness and pose with sunglasses to show support of children’s heart disease. Thank you so much Ignite Fair and YRES for the amazing opportunity to raise support for our cause, teach how to administer CPR and other lifesaving heart techniques, and be a part of a community of youth change makers! A huge thank you to everyone who came to visit the Hope for Young Hearts booth! We appreciate your time learning about our initiatives and your supportive messages on our board of kindness!
🫀Remember: Behind every heart is a story worth saving. Support Hope for Young Hearts today for children’s heart health
Heart Health & Sleep
Heart Health & Sleep
🌃In collaboration with @somnette, Hope for Young Hearts is highlighting the importance of quality sleep for heart health. Somnette is a medical nonprofit focused on raising awareness about insomnia and its impact on mental health. The organization has achieved incredible milestones, including placing fifth in the world for its mission and projects, conducting interviews with university professors at the University at Buffalo and psychotherapists at LiveWise Associates and Layla Care, reaching over 200,000 interactions on social media, and much more.
💤Quality sleep is more than just feeling rested. It helps your body regulate blood pressure, reduces inflammation, and keeps your cardiovascular system working at its best. When you sleep well, your heart can stay strong and ready to take on the day. Even small changes like going to bed a little earlier or turning off screens before bed can make a big difference. Tonight, try to give yourself that extra rest. Your heart will thank you for it.
The Cure
The Cure
Is there a cure for children’s heart disease?
👨⚕️👩⚕️Treatment for children’s heart diseases depend on the type and severity of the defect. Some heart problems are mild and may not require immediate intervention. In these cases, children are regularly monitored by a cardiologist to ensure their heart continues to function properly. Mild defects often allow children to live healthy lives with only occasional check-ups. However, more severe heart defects usually require medical intervention to prevent complications.
💊Medications are often used to support heart function. For example, diuretics help remove excess fluid from the body, making breathing easier. Digoxin may be prescribed to strengthen the heart’s pumping ability and help regulate the heartbeat. In certain cases, prostaglandin E1 is given to keep specific blood vessels open temporarily, which allows proper circulation until surgical treatment can take place. These medications may be used alone or in combination, depending on the child’s specific condition.
🏥Minimally invasive procedures using catheters are also common for certain defects. In these procedures, a thin tube is inserted into the heart to repair or widen valves, close holes, or place stents to expand narrowed blood vessels. Balloon valvuloplasty, for example, is used to widen narrowed valves, while device closure procedures can fix holes in the heart walls without open-heart surgery.
Resources:
- https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/congenital-heart-defects/care-and-treatment-for-congenital-heart-defects
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21674-congenital-heart-disease
- https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/700childrens/2016/10/can-you-be-cured-of-congenital-heart-disease
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/congenital-heart-disease/treatment/
World Affairs Conference
World Affairs Conference
The renowned World Affairs Conference (WAC) is pleased to announce that Bill Weir, Keith Pelley, and Dr. James Orbinski will be keynotes at this year’s student-led conference to be held at Upper Canada College in Toronto on Wednesday, March 5. The day-long conference is co-hosted with Branksome Hall and features eighteen speakers who will present on this year’s theme, WAC to the Future. Secondary students from schools across the GTA will participate in person.
The World Affairs Conference aims to bring together youth, educators, and changemakers to help shape a better world. It is North America’s largest and Canada’s oldest annual student-run conference, providing high-quality discussion opportunities for thousands of inspired, curious, and globally-minded high school students. Its mission is to motivate high school students to proactively engage in world affairs and become aware of humanity’s most pressing challenges by exposing students to experienced perspectives and discussion opportunities with global leaders. In the past, the conference has hosted speakers such as Edward Snowden, Martin Luther King III, Geoffrey Hinton, Dr. Roberta Bondar and others.Since the 1980s, WAC has reached over 10,000 students from more than 80 schools and 35 countries—and gained formal recognition from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and City of Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.
Hope For Young hearts is honoured to be invited and participate in this event!🩷
Dr. Honjo Interview
Dr. Honjo Interview
Dr. Osami Honjo became a staff cardiovascular surgeon at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in July 2010 after completing fellowship at SickKids and St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto. He became the Division Head of Cardiovascular Surgery in 2025.
Dr. Honjo’s clinical practice focuses on open heart surgery in neonates and infants with complex congenital heart diseases, surgical palliation for single ventricle patients, mechanical cardiopulmonary support in paediatric population, and surgery for patients with adult congenital heart diseases. He serves as the surgical director of heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support since 2012 and served as an interim head of the division from 2018 to 2019.
Jeewa and Dr. Osami Honjo, Mariam’s cardiovascular surgeon, Surgical Director of Heart Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support and Watson Family Chair in Cardiovascular Sciences at SickKids, quickly started to collaborate with American colleagues to train SickKids staff on the device, the surgical procedure and post-surgical care.
“Although we often manage other types of assistive devices, everything about the total artificial heart was new for the team. The fact that Mariam was one of the smallest patients in the world to have this device also presented a significant technical challenge,” explains Honjo.
On July 8, 2021, the surgery was successfully completed and Mariam began her recovery. With the support of her multidisciplinary team, she had to relearn how to walk, drink and eat while being attached to a large machine and tubes that kept her artificial heart pumping.
Heart/Brain Connection
Heart/Brain Connection
🏥Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) often face unique challenges in brain development that can influence cognitive, motor, and socio-emotional skills. Research indicates that the severity of the heart condition, the timing and number of medical interventions, and associated complications significantly increase the risk of developmental delays. These differences are largely due to genetic and biological factors that affect both cardiac and neurological development, as well as the physiological impact of chronic illness and repeated medical procedures.
🧪Observational studies of children aged zero to six years using the Denver II Developmental Screening Test show that children with CHD, whether awaiting surgery or recovering postoperatively, are more likely to have “suspect” or “abnormal” developmental outcomes compared to healthy peers. Factors such as male gender, younger age, lower family income, and increased hospitalization frequency were significantly associated with developmental risk. For instance, children experiencing multiple hospitalizations or invasive procedures often demonstrated greater delays in cognitive, motor, and social skills, highlighting the broader biopsychosocial impact of chronic heart conditions.
Famous Celebrities
Famous Celebrities
It can also be encouraging and surprising to learn how many well-known public figures live with congenital heart disease. Olympic athlete Shaun White, one of Team USA’s most celebrated competitors, was born with Tetralogy of Fallot and has gone on to win multiple gold medals in snowboarding and skateboarding. Former NFL player and current ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi won several Super Bowl championships despite having a repaired atrial septal defect. Other athletes, such as seven-time Pro Bowl guard Steve Hutchinson and MMA fighter Mark “Fight Shark” Miller, have also thrived while living with congenital heart defects.
Congenital heart disease is not limited to athletes. Many figures in entertainment have also lived with CHD. Singer Jessie J has Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, while Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys was born with a ventricular septal defect. Actor and former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has a bicuspid aortic valve, singer Bret Michaels has an atrial septal defect, and Survivor contestant Whitney Duncan also lives with CHD.
In addition to those personally affected, many public figures are parents of children with congenital heart disease. Fox News anchor Bret Baier has a son born with D-transposition of the great vessels, and U.S. Senator Ron Johnson shares a similar experience. NFL player Greg Olsen has a son with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, while actor Mark Feuerstein has a daughter born with an anomalous coronary artery.
#heart #heartawareness #children #childrenheartdisease #health support community
https://pediatricheartspecialists.com/heart-education/blog/59-celebrities-with-congenital-heart-disease
Heart/Lung Connection
Heart/Lung Connection
The heart and lungs are biologically and functionally connected, so abnormalities in the heart directly affect lung development and function. The lungs depend on the heart to deliver oxygen-poor blood through the pulmonary artery and return oxygen-rich blood through the pulmonary veins, allowing gas exchange to occur in the alveoli. When cardiac development is abnormal, pulmonary circulation is altered, which affects lung structure and efficiency.
🫁Research shows that CHD can disrupt lung development as early as the first month of embryonic growth. Abnormal blood flow to the lungs interferes with the formation of pulmonary blood vessels and limits alveolar branching, resulting in simplified vascular and alveolar networks. This reduces effective gas exchange and contributes to chronic lung disease and pulmonary hypertension. After birth, abnormal heart anatomy, such as an enlarged heart or atypically positioned blood vessels, can compress nearby lungs and airways. This compression causes respiratory distress, wheezing, stridor, and recurring lung collapse. Certain heart defects, including patent ductus arteriosus and ventricular septal defects, increase blood flow through the lungs, damaging pulmonary vessels through scarring and narrowing. As a result, blood pressure in the lungs rises, leading to pulmonary hypertension. Elevated pressure in vessels near the alveoli can cause fluid to leak into airspaces, producing pulmonary edema and further limiting oxygen exchange.
Fatigue
Fatigue
🗺️Fatigue is a common and significant symptom in children with congenital heart disease (CHD), yet its causes are not fully understood. In a study of 442 children aged 2 to 18 from the PROactive cohort in the Netherlands, researchers found that nearly one-third of children experienced fatigue, with almost 18% reporting severe fatigue. The study examined both cardiology-focused factors, such as disease severity, comorbidities, and exercise capacity, and transdiagnostic factors, which included lifestyle, psychological, and social aspects like sleep quality, emotional functioning, and school participation.
📄The findings revealed that while some cardiology-focused factors, particularly comorbidities and reduced exercise capacity, were associated with fatigue, they explained only a small portion of the variation in fatigue levels. In contrast, transdiagnostic factors were far more influential, accounting for over 60% of the variance. Children who reported poorer physical, emotional, and social functioning, worse sleep quality, higher levels of internalizing symptoms, and more school absence were significantly more likely to experience fatigue. This suggests that fatigue in children with CHD is not solely driven by the severity of the heart condition itself, but is strongly shaped by broader lifestyle, psychological, and social influences.
#heart #heartawareness #awareness #childrenheartdisease #support
https://www.healthcentral.com/condition/heart-disease/fatigue-and-heart-disease
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21641846.2025.2561520
BROCHURES
Hope for Young Hearts ensures that our community is educated through the use of thoughtfully designed promotional brochures, which are displayed at the Toronto Zoo. By placing these materials in a high-traffic public space, we increase visibility for our cause, especially among youth and families. These brochures help raise awareness about children living with heart conditions and encourage learning beyond the classroom.
OUR FLYERS
For every event hosted, Hope for Young Hearts designs a custom flyer to help educate the public and raise awareness. Each flyer, posted on our website, highlights our partners, event details, and where the proceeds are directed. Artistically designed to attract attention, we post them around York Region schools and hand them to students as a form of spreading awareness.
Fund for Every Heart Fundraiser Event
Walk for Jaya and Yunas
Sunglasses Event
Heart Archives Event
OUR BLOG
Our blog serves as an accessible educational space where we share recaps of our events, highlighting key moments, outcomes, and the impact each initiative has on our community. Through engaging visuals and clear storytelling, these articles allow readers to understand our mission in action and understand how youth-led efforts can create real change.
SPOTIFY & YOUTUBE INTERVIEWS
Bi-weekly, our Youth Council releases a new episode of "Little Hearts, Big Stories," a podcast with over 100 monthly listeners, that explores children’s heart disease, including risk factors, common conditions, treatments, and ways to take action. Our "Heart Matters: Pediatric Cardiology Explained" interview series features interviews with different professionals, such as Mike Seed, who is the Head of Cardiology at SickKids hospital and Professor at the University of Toronto. Osami Honjo, the first physician in Canada to implant an artificial heart in a child, was also featured.
Little Hearts, Big Stories
Little Hearts, Big Stories
Real stories from children and families affected by heart disease, sharing resilience, hope, and lived experiences to inspire and educate our community.
Youtube Interviews
Youtube Interviews
In-depth conversations with leading pediatric cardiologists, surgeons, and healthcare experts breaking down complex heart topics in a way that’s easy to understand.
Heart Matters
Heart Matters
Educational episodes explaining pediatric cardiology concepts, heart conditions, and treatments to make heart health accessible for everyone.
DISCORD
Somnette has built a Discord community of around 30 members, bringing youth together to support children and family members affected by children's heart disease. Whether you're looking for heart health tips, resources, or just a space to share your experiences, we've got you covered. Join us and connect with others because behind every heart is a story worth saving!
Hope for Young Hearts also has an email where we receive many inquiries and stories.
Feel free to reach out to us at anytime at hopeforyounghearts.community@gmail.com!
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