My daughter Sloan’s heart story began when she was only 16 hours old.

My daughter Sloan’s heart story began when she was only 16 hours old.

What we thought would be the beginning of life with a healthy newborn suddenly became a diagnosis of Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect. Within her first few weeks of life, Sloan spent 40 days in the hospital and underwent her first open-heart surgery at just three weeks old.

That was the beginning of a journey we never expected to be on.

Sloan has grown up knowing cardiology appointments, echocardiograms, EKGs, procedures, medications and hospital stays as part of her normal. But she has also grown up incredibly strong, funny, loving and determined. Congenital heart disease is part of her story, but it has never been the entirety of who she is.

In July 2025, at seven years old, Sloan faced her second open-heart surgery. She underwent a pulmonary valve replacement along with additional intervention to her pulmonary artery. Watching my daughter walk into another major heart surgery was one of the hardest moments I have experienced as her mother. Watching her come out of it and continue moving forward reminded me again just how extraordinary these children are.

Sloan’s heart has also changed my life.

Her diagnosis turned me into an advocate. I began volunteering with The Children’s Heart Foundation in 2019, and after our family moved to Oklahoma, I helped establish the Oklahoma Congenital Heart Walk in 2021. What started because of one little girl and her heart has grown into a community of Heart Warriors, Heart Angels, parents, siblings and supporters who remind our families that we are not walking this journey alone.

Every year that I advocate, fundraise and help bring families together, I do it because of Sloan.

World Heart Day is a reminder that behind every diagnosis and every statistic is a person. For me, that person is my daughter — a little girl who has already endured two open-heart surgeries and continues to live, grow, laugh, learn and show us what courage looks like.

Sloan is my Heart Warrior, and I will keep sharing her story until every child born with a congenital heart defect has the opportunity to grow up and tell their own.