Saving Australian hearts
How you make a difference
Schools and families across the country are supporting Australians living with heart disease. Your generous support helps to educate people and fund research to better prevent and manage heart disease into the future. You help by:
- Funding high-impact research
- Working to improve heart disease prevention, detection, care and support
- Advocating to governments and industry for increased funding and resources for heart health
- Building community awareness about living a heart-healthy lifestyle. We do this through public health awareness campaigns, accessible information and resources
- Supporting health professionals in their work to prevent, diagnose, treat and manage heart disease.
Your support gives hope to thousands of families like Ayla's that we can help end heart disease
Celebrating the arrival of a newborn should be full of joy, but for Taryn and Michael, the early days of their daughter’s life were marked by unexpected challenges. A mere three days after Ayla’s birth, doctors uncovered a congenital heart condition, revealing a series of holes in her heart that required urgent open-heart surgery just five days into her young life. “It was an incredibly tough journey, but we are forever grateful to initiatives like Jump Rope for Heart. Without heart research we wouldn’t have our little girl here today.”– Ayla’s Mum, Taryn
Now, Ayla is giving back by actively participating in the Jump Rope for Heart Program at her school, Beaconhills College. Ayla embarked on this journey in her very first year of primary school, where she not only honed her skipping skills and learned captivating tricks but gained valuable knowledge about heart health.
Meet Cody and Jesse
Cody and Jesse, two young brothers from Brisbane, Queensland, set their sights sky high with a plan to raise “millions of dollars” for the Heart Foundation by being part of Jump Rope for Heart. Their inspiration? Their baby brother Sam died of heart disease after surgery to repair a hole in his heart at 10 months of age. The boys are proud to share the story of their baby brother.
“They are very special kids who genuinely want to help others because they know what can happen."
- Paula B, Mother of Jump Rope Heart Heroes Cody and Jesse
Meet Abi
Australia’s second-highest individual fundraiser for 2020 was Abi P; this incredible five-year-old raised $8,532 in honour of her grandmother, Linda, who received a heart transplant 13 years ago. Abi attends the Gundagai Public School in rural New South Wales. During this year, her school raised more than $20,000 for the Heart Foundation through their involvement in Jump Rope for Heart; what an incredible effort!
Together with her friends and fellow students, Abi learned that skipping is heaps of fun and a wonderful way to keep your heart healthy.
“Iris and I could not be more proud of Abi! We always knew she was a little champion, but to be putting in this much effort and raising so much money for the Heart Foundation in her first year at school is fantastic. Iris has also been working hard behind the scenes to support Abi’s skipping and fundraising efforts. It means a lot to our family, especially my mum.”
- Mark P, Father of Jump Rope Heart Hero Abi
Every dollar really makes a difference.
$50
could cover the cost of basic tools like syringes and test tubes for a researchers can use to grow heart cells in the lab.
$100
could pay for a DNA test to identify people at high genetic risk of heart disease.
$500
could cover the cost of research antibodies used to detect viral or bacterial infections in the heart.
