♥️Aortic Hope Community Liaison Bonit Sharma recently had the opportunity to speak at the Hackensack University Medical Center Symposium, sharing his powerful survivor story, the important lessons he learned along the way, and how those experiences led him to advocacy and his work with Aortic Hope. ♥️There is something incredibly impactful about bringing the patient voice into a room of medical professionals—putting a real person and a real journey behind the disease they tre

🧠❤️ MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS—ESPECIALLY AFTER AN AORTIC DIAGNOSIS. Aortic disease doesn’t just affect the heart and aorta. It can affect how we think, feel, sleep, cope and live. The fear of another emergency. Anxiety before scans. Trauma after surgery or dissection. Learning to trust your body again. And for caregivers, the emotional weight can be just as real. In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Day, join Aortic Hope’s Amy Wagner, LCSW-C, as we talk openly about mental

❤️🫀𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧. 𝗔. 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗛. 🫀❤️ As #AorticDiseaseAwarenessMonth comes to a close, all of us at Aortic Hope want to say one very important thing: 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨. Thank you for reading. Thank you for watching. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for participating. And most importantly, thank you for helping us take aortic disease awareness far beyond our own community. And WOW… you certainly did! 🎉 📈 During September, on Facebook alone: ❤️ 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀�

When the Emergency Is Over, But Your Mind Is Still on Alert Understanding Anxiety, Medical Trauma & PTSD After Aortic Disease When you hear the words aortic aneurysm, aortic dissection, or aortic surgery, life can suddenly feel divided into two parts: before and after. Even when the immediate danger has passed, your mind may not get the message. You may be home from the hospital. Your incision may be healing. Your doctors may tell you that everything looks stable. And yet you

📚❤️ LOVE A GOOD BOOK? We’ve got something for you! For #AorticDiseaseAwarenessMonth, take a look at Aortic Hope’s Reading Resources—a collection created with our community in mind. https://www.aortichope.org/post/reading-resources-by-the-community-for-the-community And this isn’t just a list of medical books! 📖 Poetry that puts the emotions of this journey into words. ❤️ Memoirs & personal stories from people who have lived it. 🫀 Patient guides that help make aortic diseas

TODAY...IS BIG! Just in time for #AorticDiseaseAwarenessMonth and as we begin the journey into the emotional side of Aortic Disease, we want to premier a "documentary" created by Carin Andersen, Founder and Board Chair of Aortic Hope and President of Think Aorta US. Thank you for your honesty and vulnerability. My Journey Back to Open Heart Surgery ~ Carin Andersen https://youtu.be/Ybe7pNy0vPM ❤️ I knew what open-heart surgery looked like. But knowing what to expect didn't pr

YOU DON’T HAVE TO EXPLAIN HERE. Living with aortic disease can sometimes feel like speaking a language that very few people understand: -The fear. -The waiting. -The scans. -The surgeries. -The medications. -The “is this normal?” moments. -The recovery that doesn’t always look like recovery. And the life after the crisis that no one really prepared you for. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗔𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗛𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗹𝗲𝗱. Because no one unders

THIS #AorticDiseaseAwarenessMonth & #AorticDissectionAwarenessWeek, IT’S TIME TO SHIFT THE DYNAMIC. Not a power struggle. A power balance. For too many people living with aortic disease, healthcare can feel like this: -We explain what’s wrong. -They tell us what to do. -We nod politely. -We hold back the questions we really want to ask. -We leave—and sometimes end up right back where we started. Sound familiar? When you’re living with aortic disease, that cycle can be frustra

Hello everyone! I’m Alvaro, and welcome back to #AorticDiseaseAwarenessMonth. Today we’re going to tackle a question that many patients ask about aortic disease: “🔎 How Do We See Aortic Disease?” The aorta is the largest artery in the human body, but we cannot diagnose most aortic diseases simply by looking at the patient. Aortic aneurysms, dissections, intramural hematomas, and other aortic conditions can develop silently, sometimes without producing any symptoms until a li

💊🫀 It is #AorticDiseaseAwarenessMonth and we are discussing MEDICATIONS, MEDICATIONS, MEDICATIONS! 🫀💊 If you live with aortic disease, chances are your medicine cabinet has become a little more… interesting! 😂 Beta blockers? ACE inhibitors? ARBs? Blood thinners? Statins? Diuretics? And what exactly does each one DO? 🤔 Aortic Hope is here to help you make sense of it! 🎓 Check out our presentation with Dr. Kristin Watson, Doctor of Pharmacy, where she breaks down common

Welcome everyone to Medical monday, my name is Alvaro and today, we’re going to dive into and debunk a common myth in aortic disease: “If you have a dissection in your abdominal aorta, you will never have one in your thoracic aorta.” But is that really true? Let’s take a closer look at the case, the evidence, and what happens to the aorta beyond the segment where the dissection was first diagnosed. For patients living with aortic disease, it can be tempting to think of the ao

🫀💙 𝗔𝗛𝗧𝗩 𝗤&𝗔: 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗘𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝗠𝗯𝗮𝗸𝗮 — 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁! 💙🫀 We’re excited to introduce you to 𝗘𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝗠𝗯𝗮𝗸𝗮, cardiac perfusionist, educator, and the creator of 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁! Join Carin Andersen on AHTV, Aortic Hope’s YouTube channel, as she sits down with Emmanuel to talk about: 🫀 What exactly does a perfusionist do? 🏥 What role does a perfusionist play during open-heart sur

Understanding Bicuspid Aortopathy – Why Does the Aorta Become Enlarged? Hello everyone! I’m Alvaro, and welcome back to Medical Monday. Today we’re going to tackle a Bicuspid Aortopathy – Why Does the Aorta Become Enlarged in Patients with Bicuspid aortic valve ? A bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is the most common congenital heart valve abnormality, affecting about 1–2% of the population. Instead of having three valve leaflets, the aortic valve develops with only two.But the va

🫀 Meet the Specialists Behind the Images: Diagnostic Radiologists 🫀 When living with aortic disease, there is an important member of your healthcare team you may never meet face-to-face — but whose expertise plays a critical role in your care: the Diagnostic Radiologist. 💙 Diagnostic radiologists are medical doctors (MD or DO) who complete years of specialized training to interpret medical imaging and help detect, diagnose, and monitor disease. For the aortic community, th

The Vascular Surgeon's Role in Aortic Disease Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well. My name is Alvaro, and today we're discussing the vital role vascular surgeons play in the management of aortic disease. When people hear the term aortic dissection, they often imagine emergency open-heart surgery. While this is true for many Type A dissections, the management of Type B dissections, toracoabdominal aneurysm and abdominal aortic aneurysm are very different and frequen

What Is Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE)? Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is an advanced ultrasound technique used to obtain high-resolution images of the heart and thoracic aorta. Instead of placing the ultrasound probe on the chest, the probe is inserted into the esophagus, which lies directly behind the heart. Because the esophagus sits so close to the heart and the aorta, TEE provides clearer and more detailed images than standard echocardiography in many sit

🎉 Milestone Moment for Aortic Hope! 🫀 We’re proud to share that Aortic Hope has reached 2k followers on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/aortic-hope-inc What makes this milestone especially meaningful is who makes up this community. Among our followers are the numerous physicians, surgeons, researchers, and medical professionals we have had the privilege to collaborate with and interview — leaders who are advancing care, research, and awareness for aortic disease

✨ New year. Same body. Still worthy of movement. ✨ As we step into a new year, let’s remind ourselves of something powerful: Your body doesn’t need to change to deserve care, respect, or movement. Movement doesn’t have to look a certain way. It doesn’t have to be fast, intense, or impressive. And it definitely doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. Maybe it’s 🐢 slow and steady 🕺 joyful and expressive 😴 intentional rest and recovery 🚶‍♀️ gentle, consistent progress Whate

Have you visited Aortic Hope's YouTube AHTV? 🎥 Check out the AHTV Live Q&A with Dr. Adham Ahmed and Carin Andersen, where we’ll dive into an important and often confusing topic: 💬 Who’s on your Aortic Team? We’ll break down: 🫀 What a hypertension specialist does 👩‍⚕️ The difference between a primary care physician and a cardiologist 🔪 Cardiothoracic vs. vascular surgeons — who does what and when 🤝 How all these clinicians work together to support you through diagnosis,

💙 Movement for Movement Monday 💙 The hardest part isn’t the workout. It’s the decision to start. It has power over the brain. That tiny moment between thinking about moving and actually moving — that’s where the battle happens. So here’s your trick: 👉 The Two-Minute Rule. Tell yourself, “I’m already doing it.” Not “I should move,” but “I’m moving now.” Because the moment you decide, you shift your brain from hesitation to action. You stop negotiating with yourself — and ju