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

