The Heart Warrior Project

27/04/2026

On the 23rd of May, it’s Heart Warrior Day, which we are celebrating with our first international in-person meetup in London.

If you are a fellow SCA survivor, or someone at risk of having one, and you’d like to celebrate the day with us, send me a message if you’re interested in joining so I can send over more info. 😉

25/04/2026

I asked in my interview with Dr Sanjay Gupta, a consultant cardiologist, why so many people follow him on his YouTube channel, which has over 500,000 subscribers. What needs do they have that they aren’t finding with other physicians?

In general, and also from my personal experience as a patient, doctors are very good at treating us medically. But they often lack empathy and fail to create a genuine human-to-human connection with their patients.

I’m grateful there are doctors like Dr. Gupta, who are setting a new standard for what it means to be an exceptional physician. Not just someone with knowledge, but someone who has also developed the skill of empathy and genuinely tries to see the person in front of them.

If you’d like to watch or listen to the full interview, search for The Heart Warrior Project on YouTube or your favorite podcast app and look for Dr. Gupta.

You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/-hSlHosyosA?si=yn3iMEow2QIw7LUp

22/04/2026

Tomorrow at 14:00 (CEST), I will be live-streaming my kayak training 🛶 for the expedition I am planning in 2027 to raise funds for cardiogenetic research. I will be exploring some new territory.

Note: this live stream is a first, so it’s also a test run. During the expedition, my plan is to live-stream the whole journey. So I am already testing some of the gear I bought to make this possible.

Click on the link to find the live-stream!

2 likes. "LIVE Kayak Training 🛶 Preparing My 2027 Expedition for Cardiogenetic Research"

19/04/2026

New episode!

Becca Travis, a sudden cardiac arrest survivor, collapsed in 2024 at the age of 24 while out for a run.

Today, she is preparing to run her first marathon, the London Marathon, to raise awareness of heart health and funds for the British Heart Foundation, supporting life-saving research, patient care, and CPR training, the skill that saved her life.

Inspired by her story and want to support this campaign? You can donate via the following link: https://2026tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/rebecca-travis

https://youtu.be/KnPTcYi8cTY?si=qlpM8WdDFQ4CWLSm

16 likes, 1 comment. "I Died While Running, Now I’m Running a Marathon | Becca Travis"

15/04/2026

Hey everyone!

26th of April, we are hosting the last meetup for that month.

Come join our international family, meet new heart warriors, get support, and feel less alone.

You can sign up through the following link: https://calendly.com/d/ct3x-q32-kym/cardiac-comeback-crew-open-discussion


❤️Help Me to Keep The Project Alive! ❤️

If you’d like to support The Heart Warrior Project and help keep it going, considering leaving a donation on Ko-Fi to treat me to a virtual coffee or by exploring the membership tiers we offer on Ko-Fi, which come with some great perks.

Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/heartwarriorproject

Of course, we also have some pretty cool merch, including hoodies, t-shirts, mugs, and bottles. You can check it out here: https://heartwarriorproject.com/merchandise/

Thank you, truly, for supporting this project! ❤️💪

13/04/2026

A few days ago, I was invited to appear on the podcast De Ambulance, a Flemish podcast that takes you through real-life stories of people who ended up in an ambulance. The podcast is still to be released.

First of all, it was definitely the most unique podcast studio I have ever been in, with an incredible host, Stef Vanlee (who was also the moderator of our first big event with the Heart Warrior Project on World Restart a Heart Day, together with the Red Cross).

But for me personally, it was also quite an emotional interview, which was interesting. It was recorded in the hospital where they brought me (and where I am still being followed up today) when I had my sudden cardiac arrest.

I got to see the room where they held me to stabilize me. And when I sat in the ambulance to do the recording, even though I wasn’t consciously aware of being in it during my cardiac arrest, I felt chills go through me, and it made me quite emotional. 🫀🚑

It’s interesting that even after five years, this event still triggers a lot of emotions within me. I often get asked by people: “When did you realize that you had a sudden cardiac arrest, that your heart stopped?” I feel that, in some way, that realization is still sinking in. It’s a very hard concept to grasp that at one point you were not here anymore and barely made it back.

But it is through actively talking about it, revisiting certain places, and not avoiding the feelings attached to this event, even if they are painful, that you can integrate what has happened a bit better into your life. Or at least, that’s been the case for me.

I’m curious to hear from other heart warriors out there. Do you recognize what I am writing? ❤️

03/04/2026

People often ask me, "Can you still move, be mobile, and exercise with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD)? I think the video shows that you can… right."

I am by no means giving medical advice (I am not a doctor), but simply sharing personal, real-life experience.

The ICD itself is generally not the main limiting factor when it comes to exercise; it is rather the underlying heart condition or the reason why you have the ICD that may set certain boundaries. In some cases, the device and its programming can also influence how you exercise safely. But overall, you can still exercise despite having an ICD.

If you want to learn more about ICDs, how they work, what you can and can't do with them, and more, have a listen to the podcast episode I did with Douglas Rachac, an ICD expert.

Search for The Heart Warrior Project on your favorite podcast app and look for the episode with Douglas Rachac.

02/04/2026

Arrived back from a work trip to Madrid, to Boston Scientific. ✈️ Not too long ago, I joined their board of patient advisors, and they invited the whole board to meet each other and spend a full, packed day helping to improve the products and services for their patients.

It was a long, intense, but very meaningful workday, giving feedback and sharing thoughts from my own 25+ years of experience living with heart disease ❤️, living with an ICD, and from the hundreds of fellow heart warriors I have met through the Heart Warrior Project, on improving patient care, ICDs, the home monitor, and much more…

I’ve now had the chance to get a peek behind the scenes of other organizations and companies in the medical industry. One thing I often wish more people could see, and that I strongly experienced at Boston Scientific, is the genuine passion, drive, and hard work of the people behind these products and services, all trying to make a real difference for us patients.

Grateful to have this opportunity and to work side by side with some incredible patients, doctors, engineers, and other professionals at Boston Scientific, helping to impact the quality of care for us patients, and to do this alongside some incredible humans. 🤝

I am currently editing a vlog about the day I spent at Boston Scientific, with more behind-the-scenes content. 🎥 If you are curious, head over to our YouTube channel by searching for The Heart Warrior Project. It will be uploaded in a couple of days!

28/03/2026

Did you know that globally, every year, millions of hearts stop from a sudden cardiac arrest? Did you also know that the survival rate is approximately 10%?

We can do so much better.

And there are ways to do so.

Together with Red Cross Flanders, I organized, with the Heart Warrior Project, an event to bring awareness about sudden cardiac arrest, and to teach people CPR that day as well.

Because that right there—knowing how to perform CPR—is crucial to improve those numbers.
It saved my life. And countless others.

Sign up for a CPR course in your local community. They are often free, don’t take a lot of time, and you’ll gain a life skill that saves lives.

26/03/2026

Hey everyone,

We’re hosting our first open discussion meetup for April. This one will take place on April 2nd and will be hosted by Matt, a fellow heart warrior from our team (who you might have seen a few times already in the meetups).

Come join us, meet fellow heart warriors from around the world, and let’s connect, share, and support one another.

You can sign up through the following link: https://calendly.com/d/ctv7-wq8-6cv/cardiac-comeback-crew-open-discussion?month=2026-04

24/03/2026

It’s been a little quiet—but only because I’ve been working on a lot behind the scenes 👀

Here’s what’s coming soon:

- 🎙️ New episodes with heart warriors
- ❓ A Q&A episode with cardiologist Dr. Rosy Thachil
- 🎥 A new video that’s been in the making for a long time
- 🌐 A fresh new website design (this is taking a loooooooot of work 😅)
- 📅 A live Q&A meetup in April with Dr. Gupta

Stay tuned! 🚀

18/03/2026

Dr. Rosy Thachil will be joining us soon for a Q&A episode focused entirely on women’s heart health 🫀✨

And I’d love to include your questions.

What would you like to know about women’s heart health?

Drop your question below 👇