501(c)(3) Nonprofit · Los Angeles, CA
We are here
for the
small hearts.
Heartbeat Forward is a registered nonprofit supporting children born with congenital heart defects and every family who walks that road beside them.
1 in 100
babies born with
congenital heart disease
congenital heart disease
40,000+
U.S. births affected
by CHD each year
by CHD each year
Supporting brave children with congenital heart defects through thoughtfully assembled care packages that bring comfort, resources, and hope.
Our Mission
What We Do
More than
More than
care packages.
A full embrace.
Children facing heart surgery endure more than medical procedures. They face fear, uncertainty, and long hospital days with no clear end in sight. Families carry emotional weight that extends far beyond the operating room. Heartbeat Forward exists to remind them, in every way we can, that they are not alone.
Care Packages
Hospital-ready kits filled with comforting items, educational materials, and age-appropriate tools to soothe, distract, and uplift children during their most vulnerable days.
Emotional Support
Encouragement and caregiver resources developed with medical and family advisors, because parents need to be held up too.
Creative Expression
Art, storytelling, and play-based activities that help children process what they are going through and build the resilience to keep going.
Resource Navigation
Curated, reliable information to help families access medical, educational, and psychosocial support at every stage of the CHD journey.
This is not
a small problem.
It just sounds like one.
Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect in the world. More common than childhood cancer. More common than Down syndrome. Yet it receives a fraction of the public attention and research funding those conditions do.
Many children with CHD require open-heart surgery before their first birthday. Many require multiple surgeries across their lifetime.
The emotional impact of CHD on a child's development and a family's wellbeing is profound, lasting, and largely unsupported by the systems meant to help them.
By combining practical support with emotional and creative care, we address both the immediate need for comfort and the long-term need for resilience.
Every care package we send is a message. It says: we know you are there. We know what this costs you. We are not going to look away.
That is the work. That has always been the work. And it matters more than most people know.
Get Involved
There is a place for you in this.
For Families
Apply for Support
If your child is living with CHD, we want to be there for you. Apply to receive a care package.
Apply →
For Volunteers
Help Assemble & Deliver
Your hands can help fill the boxes that fill the rooms that hold these children. Join us.
Volunteer →
For Donors
Fund Comfort & Hope
Every dollar you give becomes a care package, a resource, a moment of relief for a child who needs it.
Donate →
For Partners
Integrate Our Programs
Hospitals, clinics, and nonprofits: let us bring this work into your care environment.
Partner →
Adrian Adair
Founder
About the Founder
I came to this cause not through personal pain, but through something harder to explain. A moral weight I could not set down.
Adrian Adair founded Heartbeat Forward in 2025 after spending years listening to the CHD community and realizing that the gap between the scale of this disease and the world's awareness of it was not acceptable. Heartbeat Forward is his answer to that gap.
His long-term vision is to grow this organization into one capable of helping fund life-saving surgeries for children whose families cannot afford them. The care packages are the beginning. The mission is much larger.
Meet Adrian Adair →Heartbeat Forward
nurtures hope,
resilience, and
healing.
One care package, one conversation, and one creative moment at a time. Because every small heart deserves a loud voice.
Heartbeat Forward is a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.