CHD stories with care, context, and courage.
Heart to Heart with Anna centers the lived reality of congenital heart disease through careful interviews, personal reflections, and plain-English medical context. The show is especially attentive to families, adult survivors, bereaved parents, and advocates trying to make sense of care that can last a lifetime.
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Heart to Heart with Anna is a compassionate interview show about life inside and around the congenital heart defect community. It is led by Anna Jaworski, who speaks from her own experience as a heart mother while making room for parents, adult survivors, advocates, authors, and medical voices. The show does not treat CHD as a brief medical event. It follows the long road. Episodes return often to childhood surgery, adult survival, family strain, advocacy, grief, fear, resilience, and the search for useful information when answers are hard to find. The pacing is deliberate, with long introductions, personal updates, and careful transitions. That rhythm gives difficult material space to breathe. A parent may describe the shock of raising a medically fragile baby during COVID-19, while another guest may revisit years shaped by hospitals, travel, loss, and remembrance. Adult survivors speak about corrective surgery, fitness, chronic illness, mental health, and the realization that congenital heart disease can require lifelong care. The show also reaches into science. Conversations touch genome sequencing, the heart-brain connection, neurodevelopment, mental health standards, nanotextured implants, vascular stents, and cardiac patches that may support tissue regeneration. Technical ideas are usually slowed down and translated into family language. The emotional center remains practical rather than sentimental. Anna often frames research, advocacy, and personal storytelling as ways to help families feel less isolated. Community matters here. Books, blogs, support projects, libraries, patrons, and Hearts Unite the Globe all appear as part of the wider CHD ecosystem. The show is not afraid of sorrow, including bereavement and medical trauma. It also makes room for gratitude, humor, recovery, travel, holidays, and the small routines that continue beside major diagnoses. Its archive feels especially valuable because it preserves many kinds of CHD experience across years of changing care. The result is a supportive, explanatory show for people who want both information and emotional recognition.
Made for: For congenital heart defect families, adult CHD survivors, bereaved parents, caregivers, advocates, and clinicians who value patient-centered stories. It also suits listeners seeking clear, gentle explanations of medical and emotional issues around lifelong heart care.
What sets it apart: The show combines a heart mother's perspective with a deep archive of CHD community voices, moving naturally between lived experience and medical context. Its strength is the way it makes technical care, grief, advocacy, and resilience feel connected rather than separate.
Revitalize your spirit and connect with the vibrant congenital heart defect (CHD) community through 'Heart to Heart with Anna,' the pioneering podcast that has been inspiring and informing listeners since 11-12-13. Join us as we dive deep into the personal journeys, triumphs, and challenges of Survivors, their loved ones, esteemed medical professionals, and other remarkable individuals within the CHD community. With unwavering dedication, our heartfelt conversations bring to light the stories that need to be heard. Gain invaluable insights, expert advice, and a sense of empowerment as we explore the multifaceted world of CHD. Our mission is to uplift, educate, and enrich the lives of every m…
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Anna Jaworski connects congenital heart care with family life, grief, neurodevelopment, and emerging medical research through patient-centered interviews.
Heart to Heart with Anna treats congenital heart disease as a lifelong reality rather than a problem resolved by surgery. Anna Jaworski brings the perspective of a mother whose adult child was born with a single ventricle heart, then builds interview-led episodes around…
A hospital room meets a nanotech lab, and Anna Jaworski keeps the human stakes in frame.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A careful CHD conversation about neurodevelopment, medical trauma, and support that helps families name children's needs and gifts.
Heart to Heart with Anna links neurodevelopment with the long emotional weight of congenital heart disease. Anna Jaworski frames the conversation from her perspective as a heart mother, then invites Don to explain why his family experience pushed him toward broader parent…
A warm, accessible bridge from family cardiac care to genetics and nanotextured heart research.
Congenital heart care is framed here as a story of connection, moving from Anna's travel, writing, and family cardiac care into CHD research on genome sequencing and surgery outcomes, then onward to nanotechnology.
A personal CHD journey becomes a wider look at lifelong care, mental-health research, and patient advocacy.
A fourth open heart surgery anchors this single-episode review in a clear idea: congenital heart disease can shape a full life, even when surgery is only a temporary fix.
A searching conversation about a family trip reshaped by Fontan surgery, hospital life, and grief.
James Robinson's account of a family trip to Australia turns into a close look at how quickly ordinary family life can be pulled into hospital routines.
Measured MS science, translated for care.
Clinical research, translated for practice.
Serious conversations about better health care.
Host Anna Jaworski interviews Elle Pendrick, an Australian adult born with complex congenital heart disease.
Anna Jaworski interviews James Robinson, father of Nadav, who had a complex congenital heart defect.
["A free Pediatric Research review discussed by Anna Jaworski and Dr.
Host Anna Jaworski interviews nanotechnology engineer and entrepreneur Tom Webster about how nanotextured surfaces on existing FDA-approved implants -- including cardiac patches, stents, and spinal screws -- have been used in more than 30,000 patients worldwide with no reported implant failures.
Heart to Heart with Anna features Stephen Hutchison, a 38-year-old husband, father of three, and full-time worker living with hypoplastic left heart syndrome after emergency surgery, a Glenn procedure, and a Fontan procedure.
Heart to Heart with Anna features Anna Jaworski and Tyler Shidoff discussing Tyler’s life with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, advocacy, education, and participation in SV1.
Heart to Heart with Anna features Anna Jaworski’s interview with Haley Graham, whose daughter Emberly Dawn was born with multiple heart defects and later inspired Embers of Love.
Host Anna shares her rare heart condition story and previews an interview about chronic illness with library staff, while also announcing a personal cruise trip with her sister.
The host reflects on her podcast's 11-year anniversary, shares updates about her recent vacation and illness, and previews upcoming changes for 2025 while expressing gratitude to her listeners and volunteers.
Host Anna interviews Ben, a 45-year-old survivor of Tetralogy of Fallot, about his corrective surgery at age four and his lifelong healthy lifestyle.
Host Anna Jaworski interviews heart mom Amelia Woods about her son Henderson's journey with a congenital heart defect and her advocacy work.