Tiny Little Hearts Podcast: CHD and Heart Mom Life

Tiny Little Hearts Podcast is your honest, unfiltered space for the CHD (congenital heart disease / congenital heart defect) community. Whether you're a heart parent, a CHD warrior, or someone newly navigating a complex congenital heart diagnosis — this podcast was made for you. Hosted by Katelyn McMahan, a mom of three girls whose world changed the moment she learned her youngest daughter had complex cardiac abnormalities. She searched for real stories — kids with complex CHD, single ventricle hearts, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, and other congenital heart defects— not the polished highlight reels, but the honest, raw truth of what this life actually looks like. She wanted to prepare her heart for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Each episode features conversations with heart parents, CHD adults, providers, and others navigating the deeply real world of congenital heart disease, open heart surgery, and medical complexity. You'll hear p

Tiny Little Hearts Podcast: CHD and Heart Mom Life is a health podcast hosted by Katelyn McMahan, with 37 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Katelyn McMahan hosts Tiny Little Hearts Podcast: CHD and Heart Mom Life, a health show with 37 episodes published.

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  Tiny Little Hearts Podcast: CHD and Heart Mom Life

  36. Sending My CHD Kiddo to Preschool

  Aug 27, 202636 min

  Katelyn shares her personal journey navigating her child's entry into preschool with a congenital heart defect, offering insights on choosing the right environment, advocacy, and supporting her child's growth. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to navigating preschool with a CHD child 02:36 Factors influencing preschool decision-making 04:21 School's approach to medically complex children 06:34 Researching and touring potential schools 08:37 Emotional journey and parental resilience 12:26 Communicating her child's medical background to teachers 15:26 Supporting her child's growth and independence 18:34 Ensuring safety and medical preparedness at school 21:00 Balancing advocacy with normal childhood experiences 23:51 Advocacy and community awareness 26:46 Reflecting on progress and future steps Sponsors & Show Support: Stronger Hearts Foundation: strongerheartsfoundation.com Instagram: @strongerheartsfoundation Support Tiny Little Hearts — 10% of listener proceeds go to Stronger Hearts Foundation Register for the Co-Op with HeartWorks Let’s Connect! Follow me on Instagram @tinylittleheartspodcast Follow me on Substack at Tiny Little Hearts Substack This episode was brought to you by the Pivot Ball Change Network. Keywords: CHD, preschool, advocacy, special needs, parenting, medical accommodations, education, community, empathy, inclusion Support the show

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  Episode #35

  35. Cole Wieland on Life with HLHS and Creating Half Heart Mission

  Aug 14, 202646 minS2

  35. Cole Wieland on Life with HLHS and Creating Half Heart Mission Two podcasters. Two heart journeys. One community. In this episode, Katelyn sits down with Cole Wieland, founder of Half Heart Mission and a 20-year-old living with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). Cole and Katelyn have both built platforms inside the CHD community — his from the patient side, hers from the parent side — and this conversation is the collision of those two worlds. They trace Cole's path from a scary moment on a pickleball court to building a following of thousands sharing his story. They talk about Goldie's own HLHS diagnosis, the in-utero intervention that changed her trajectory, and how her case became Shone's complex instead. They get honest about the vulnerability and burnout that come with sharing a medical journey online, and why neither of them are chasing followers — just the right person, at the right time, who needs to hear it. And they close with their shared experience at the National CHD Advocacy Summit in DC, including Cole's interview with Senator Dick Durbin, and the piece of advice they'd both give a brand-new heart parent. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to turn a hard diagnosis into a platform for hope, this one's for you. Cole is a 20-year-old living with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and the founder of Half Heart Mission, a platform where he shares his journey with CHD to give patients and parents hope for the future. He's had three open-heart surgeries (Norwood, Glenn, Fontaine) and grew up playing competitive basketball and golf before starting his platform on TikTok, which has since grown into a large, engaged CHD community. Resources & Links Half Heart Mission: Instagram/TikTok @halfheartmission Sponsors & Show Support: Stronger Hearts Foundation: strongerheartsfoundation.com Instagram: @strongerheartsfoundation Support Tiny Little Hearts — 10% of listener proceeds go to Stronger Hearts Foundation Register for the Co-Op with HeartWorks Let’s Connect! Follow me on Instagram @tinylittleheartspodcast Follow me on Substack at Tiny Little Hearts Substack This episode was brought to you by the Pivot Ball Change Network. Keywords: congenital heart disease, chd, podcaster, content creators, hlhs, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, Support the show

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  Tiny Little Hearts Podcast: CHD and Heart Mom Life

  Season 2 Premiere: A Summer Recap & What's Ahead

  Aug 5, 202612 min

  Season 2 is here! In this solo episode, Katelyn is back after a summer break to recap the season and share what's ahead for Tiny Little Hearts: CHD and Heart Mom Life . This summer marked the first time Katelyn and her family resumed their normal travel schedule since Goldie's diagnosis — a milestone that brought unexpected waves of reflection on the past three years. Katelyn shares what it felt like to pack for a trip with drastically fewer medical supplies than before, reconnecting with family who'd never met Goldie in person, and the gratitude that comes with a season of stability. Looking ahead, Katelyn previews what's coming in Season 2: conversations with authors and CHD foundations doing meaningful work in the advocacy space, and a new series exploring the "messy middle" of medical motherhood — the identity shifts, the fear that coexists with hope, and the reality of raising a child with CHD once the acute crises are behind you. Katelyn also shares a personal update: Goldie is starting preschool this fall, and new episodes will now release every other week. In this episode: A summer travel milestone, three years in the making Reflecting on stability, grief, and gratitude as a heart mom A first look at Season 2: authors, foundations, and the messy middle of motherhood What's next for the podcast schedule Sponsors & Show Support: Stronger Hearts Foundation: strongerheartsfoundation.com Instagram: @strongerheartsfoundation Support Tiny Little Hearts — 10% of listener proceeds go to Stronger Hearts Foundation Register for the Co-Op with HeartWorks Let’s Connect! Follow me on Instagram @tinylittleheartspodcast Follow me on Substack at Tiny Little Hearts Substack This episode was brought to you by the Pivot Ball Change Network. Keywords: Tiny Little Hearts podcast, CHD mom, heart mom, congenital heart disease podcast, CHD, traveling with a medically complex child, heart warrior milestones, CHD stability, medical motherhood, messy middle of motherhood, heart mom identity, CHD advocacy Support the show

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  Tiny Little Hearts Podcast: CHD and Heart Mom Life

  33. One Year of Tiny Little Hearts Podcast: CHD and Heart Mom Life

  Jun 10, 202611 min

  If you're a heart parent navigating congenital heart disease, you know that the journey is rarely a straight line — and neither is building a community around it. In this special solo episode, Katelyn closes out Season 1 of Tiny Little Hearts with a heartfelt thank you to the CHD parenting community that has grown around this show. Over the past year, Tiny Little Hearts has become a space where congenital heart disease families can feel less alone, more informed, and genuinely supported. From vulnerable guest conversations to listener stories that have poured in from heart parents across the country, Season 1 has been more than Katelyn ever hoped for when she hit record on that first episode. In this episode, Katelyn shares: A reflection on Season 1 — the guests, the topics, and the CHD parent community moments that meant the most A personal and honest update on why she's pausing new episode releases for the summer — and how editing last week's episode with Katie Taylor of Child Life on Call about medical parent emotional burnout made her stop and listen to her own instincts What's coming in Season 2, launching in early August — including deeper conversations, more expert voices, and new topics for heart families How you can support the show during the break (hint: share it with a CHD parent who needs it) Whether you're newly diagnosed, years into your congenital heart disease journey, or somewhere in the messy middle — this episode is a reminder that you are not walking this road alone. Sponsors & Show Support: Stronger Hearts Foundation: strongerheartsfoundation.com Instagram: @strongerheartsfoundation Support Tiny Little Hearts — 10% of listener proceeds go to Stronger Hearts Foundation Register for the Co-Op with HeartWorks Let’s Connect! Follow me on Instagram @tinylittleheartspodcast Follow me on Substack at Tiny Little Hearts Substack This episode was brought to you by the Pivot Ball Change Network. Keywords: congenital heart disease,caregiver burnout, medical parent burnout, child life specialist, medically complex child, hospital parent support, caregiver self-care Support the show

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  Episode #32

  32. Caregiver Burnout in Medical Parents: How To Recognize It Before You Crash with Certified Child Life Specialist Katie Taylor

  Jun 3, 202639 minS1

  <p><b>Summary: </b></p><p>In this episode, Katelyn sits down with Katie Taylor — certified child life specialist, co-founder and CEO of Child Life On Call, author, speaker, and host of Inside the Children's Hospital podcast — for a deeply honest conversation about caregiver burnout.</p><p>Katie has spent over 15 years working at the bedside of children's hospitals and supporting families through some of their hardest moments, and she brings both clinical expertise and genuine warmth to this topic that doesn't get nearly enough airtime.</p><p><b>In this episode:</b></p>What caregiver burnout actually looks like from...

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