We recently connected with Denise Redeker and have shared our conversation below.

Denise, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

“You have one year left.”

Those words echoed in my mind as I walked out of my doctor’s office in December 2017. On that day, I learned that the heart condition I was diagnosed with at 29 had finally caught up with me. Without a transplant, I would die. I planned my memorial, said my goodbyes, and yet somehow felt an unexpected certainty that if I survived, my life would have a second chapter with profound purpose.

That second chapter began quickly. After multiple cardiac arrests in early 2018, I moved into the hospital to wait for a transplant. Not everyone gets that call. I was one of the lucky ones. At the end of January, I received a new heart—and endured three open-heart surgeries in one week during recovery.

After discharge, I faced another reality most people never consider – heart transplant patients are required to temporarily relocate near their hospital, yet insurance often doesn’t cover this recovery housing. As I recovered in a small temporary apartment, my husband and I began asking how families without savings possibly survive this stage. The stories we discovered were devastating – patients and their parents living out of cars, single parents delaying transplants because they couldn’t afford recovery expenses.

In Northern California, there were no financial resources for heart transplant patients. And in that moment, I knew what my second chapter would be.

Heartfelt Help Foundation was born from a hospital room and a second chance at life.

I had volunteered before, but starting a nonprofit required learning everything from scratch: incorporating, building a board, creating programs, fundraising, compliance, and community outreach. The learning curve was steep, and the urgency was relentless because patients needed help immediately.

Today, Heartfelt Help Foundation is the only nonprofit in our region dedicated to helping heart transplant patients recover financially as they recover physically. We provide required temporary housing when insurance does not. We assist with basic living expenses—rent, utilities, car payments—when loss of income makes those impossible. And we connect patients with financial professionals who help them climb out of transplant-related debt at no cost.

We believe financial stability supports family stability—and ultimately creates a stable environment for the donated heart itself.

The challenges never stop. Fundraising is constant. Administrative costs require creativity. And the demand continues to grow rapidly, with a significant increase projected in the coming years. Still, the mission remains clear.

Looking back, I would have sought experienced nonprofit mentors sooner. Passion fueled the launch, but guidance would have eased the growing pains of governance, sustainability, and leadership.

To any young—or mid-career—professional considering launching a practice or nonprofit: the world absolutely needs your courage. But before you build, look around. Collaboration often creates greater impact than duplication. And find a mentor who understands the unique demands of the nonprofit world—they are invaluable.

Heartfelt Help Foundation was never part of my original life plan. But when I was given a second chance, it became my purpose. And today, every family we stabilize financially reminds me why that second chapter was worth everything it took to begin.

Denise, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Finding a deeper mission in the second half of life wasn’t something I ever imagined possible. I grew up in Southern California, graduated from UCLA, and stepped onto a career path that felt expected. I married a wonderful man, welcomed a beautiful baby boy, and believed I knew where life was headed. But the birth of my son brought an unexpected diagnosis: heart failure.
Heart transplant was never part of my life’s plan. But life rarely follows the script we write for it. Along the way, I discovered that while we don’t choose our challenges, we can choose our response—and hope, I learned, is that choice. Hope is what turns survival into purpose.
Heartfelt Help Foundation was born from that discovery. As the only organization of its kind in Northern California, we provide vital financial assistance to heart transplant patients who have nowhere else to turn. In our five short years, we’ve supplied thousands of nights of recovery housing, kept families together in their homes, made car payments, stocked kitchens with food, and offered tangible help to those facing impossible odds.
Entirely donor-funded and run by volunteers, Heartfelt Help Foundation stands for one simple truth: no one should have to fight for their life while also fighting to stay afloat financially. Together, we’re creating a lifeline—and hope—for those who need it most.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Training and Knowledge are absolutely essential for success, but their partners are grit and determination. If you have all of the training and don’t have determination and a vision and a whole lot of grit, success will be hard to find. Determination to serve despite the odds is what has created the environment that continues to grow Heartfelt Help Foundation.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Our patients needs are what drives me. The resilience I have comes directly from them. We are currently working with an amazing family whose 5 year old daughter is the recipient of a donated heart. She spent close to a year inpatient waiting for her second chance. A parent is required to stay bedside while their child is inpatient, so dad took unpaid leave to be with his little girl. Any parent would do the same.

The lack of an income lead to the loss of their home and a car. When his daughter was discharged, they had no home to go back to and relied on friends and family for transportation. Dad went back to work but it wasn’t enough. Heartfelt Help Foundation helped with a deposit to get them into a new home, but unexpected medical expenses caused the loss of their replacement car.
Others have given up finding a solution for this family to get them back on their feet. I am determined to see this family to the other side of this, knocking on as many doors as possible to find them the means to get his medically fragile daughter to the care she needs and dad to work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.heartfelthelpfoundation.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heartfelthelpfoundation
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heartfelthelpfoundation
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/heartfelt-help-foundation/?viewAsMember=true
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@heartfelthelpfoundation