Honourable senators, I rise today to celebrate the first HeartLife Day on the Hill during Heart Failure Awareness Week. Senator Osler and I had the honour of welcoming the HeartLife Foundation to the Senate of Canada this morning, along with many of our colleagues from the Senate and House of Commons.

The HeartLife Foundation is a national patient-driven organization and Canada’s first and only national patient-led heart failure organization. They are dedicated to engaging, educating and empowering those living with heart failure, advocating for a better quality of life and necessary policy changes as well as raising awareness of this life-threatening conditioning.

We heard this morning from co-founders Marc Bains and Dr. Jillianne Code, and Dr. Seema Nagpal, Chief Science Officer of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. Marc was 23 years old when he was diagnosed with heart failure. It was the constant “what ifs” that were always in the back of his mind leading up to the day when he received the call there was a heart for him.

Dr. Jillianne Code was 27 years old. She says:

Accepting the inevitable truth is seemingly simple. As a patient recognizing the outcome of heart failure if left untreated was as simple as it comes – I could die. What’s complicated, what’s hard, is living with it. Is figuring out how to live with it. Figuring out what facing your own mortality means. . . .

Does my ‘heart and soul’ exist independent of my physical heart?

This is a question that I grappled with when I was first diagnosed. And to be completely honest, after you have received the gift of a new life from another person, in my case more than once, this question is renewed as you wake each morning, as you breathe in every extra breath you are fortunate to be granted. My mortality greets me every morning as I say “Not today”.

Together, Marc and Jillianne co-founded the HeartLife Foundation and have become leaders and advocates for so many individuals dealing with heart failure. They have created a national community so that no one feels alone, no matter where they are in Canada. They have worked tirelessly with all members of the HeartLife Foundation to fight to bring awareness to heart failure through their Heart Failure Policy Framework.

I would like to take a moment to also recognize Max Monahan-Ellison and Jennifer Milne, members of HeartLife, for their hard work and dedication.

This week is Heart Failure Awareness Week. Heart failure is now one of the fastest-growing cardiovascular conditions in the world. It is estimated that more than 100,000 Canadians will be diagnosed this year alone. This important week raises awareness for this condition and hopes to increase public knowledge and provide a better understanding about this chronic condition.

Honourable senators, please join me and Senator Osler in congratulating the HeartLife Foundation and HeartLife Day on the Hill. As their motto states: “It’s about life, not failure.”