In 2025, Jessica Bowser, a middle school student from Northwest Arkansas, proved that powerful advocacy can begin at any age. Jessica served as a youth advocate in support of Cardiac Emergency Response Plans (CERPs) for public schools across Arkansas, helping amplify student voices and elevate the importance of cardiac emergency preparedness on school campuses. As…Read More…

My momma always said, “Fail to plan, plan to fail.” I took this to heart, literally. When my son, Patrick, was diagnosed at age four with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, I knew I had to have a plan. I knew I had to inform people in our smalltown about his condition. When he was in 1st grade,…Read More…

At 29 years old, my wife Kristin had returned home from dropping the kids off at school and said that she had chest pain and tingling fingers. I walked into the room and found Kristin slumped over and breathing strangely. I rolled her over and saw that she was turning blue. After a moment of…Read More…

In November of 2023, Nick Schellinger began experiencing numbness on the right side of his body while picking up his twin sons from daycare. “I knew what was happening and was scared,” Schellinger recalled. “I quickly decided to advocate for myself and insisted to the emergency room desk staff that I was having a stroke….Read More…

Beyond the Bike Lane: How Two Ohio Advocates are Making Columbus Streets Safer Every major policy change starts with a voice—often that of a committed volunteer. This was certainly true at the recent Columbus City Council hearing on the Complete Streets policy, where two passionate American Heart Association Heart Powered advocates turned their personal and…Read More…

For more than a decade, we have worked tirelessly to persuade our state legislators to expand Medicaid and help the tens of thousands of hardworking Kansans like me who find themselves in the health insurance gap. I’m tired of waiting. Expanding Medicaid would bring health care coverage to hardworking individuals in our state, return Kansans’…Read More…

Student Voices Drive Advocacy Forward in Georgia For Heart Club members from Alliance Academy for Innovation, Ishanth Talanki and Kahan Patel, advocacy is rooted in family legacy. “We both had family members who were prominent figures in Indian politics, giving us our passion for making an impact through policy change. This, coupled with the cardiac…Read More…

We’re proud to highlight the incredible work of American Heart Association Heart Powered advocates who are driving change in their communities. Today, we’re shining a light on Nayan Sapers, a passionate youth leader and Heart Powered advocate. Nayan wears many hats—he’s a member of the Massachusetts State Advocacy Committee and the leader of the Crimson…Read More…

From the Sidelines to the Capitol: Beckett Moore’s Journey from Survivor to Advocate When 14-year-old Beckett Moore collapsed on his high school football field in Austin, no one could have predicted the incredible journey that lay ahead. What began as a terrifying cardiac arrest during football practice has transformed into a powerful story of survival,…Read More…

In 2018, Heather Baker was a healthy 28-year-old in her first year as a school district curriculum director. Despite waking up with a terrible headache, she was not going to miss work. She drove 50 minutes through winding country roads near her Illinois home to attend multiple meetings at different locations. Everything seemed fine until…Read More…