Meet Brayden, a 17 year old with Transposition of the Great Arteries. A CHAMPS camper<\/a> for 7 years, Brayden is a mentor and an inspiration for younger heart heroes. Below he shares his journey, passions, and hopes for the future!<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/mendinglittlehearts.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_4077-scaled-e1669594480671-300×265.jpg” title_text=”heart hero” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”|73px||77px||” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”1642px” custom_margin=”-69px|auto|46px|auto||” custom_padding=”13px||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”51px|||||” custom_padding=”0px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”] Having a heart defect has impacted my life so much and has really helped me figure out who I am. When I was young, I really wanted to join sports like hockey. However, I always got too scared to join anything due to my heart condition because I was worried that something would happen. Little things like that would cause my younger self to be anxious, and at the time, I didn\u2019t know anyone who had heart conditions similar to mine. For a long time, I thought I was the only one with this weird scar in the middle of my chest. I didn\u2019t have anyone around me who felt the same way, and so I never joined anything. I\u2019m so glad I didn\u2019t because then I wouldn’t have found my true passion and interests; writing and other creative hobbies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Figuring out my passions has been such a fulfilling journey to me. It all started with writing stories when I was in the second grade. It became a lot of fun for me to create these stories about my friends and I, as well as drawing pictures to go along with the story.\u00a0I wrote one of my most favorite stories at the beginning of fourth grade. This book inspired me to become a writer and figure out exactly who I am, and showed me that I could use writing as a form of therapy to express how I feel or what I\u2019ve been through. This book was titled \u201cSeptember Boy\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I became inspired to start writing stories in a new and different way than what books are usually written like. I started writing \u201cChoose Your Own Adventure\u201d stories. I started using this approach for all my stories to make reading interesting and more fun since I started noticing that people felt like reading was boring. Another unique thing I started doing was writing my stories like a TV show. I started calling my chapters \u201cEpisodes\u201d and each book was a Season. This helped me keep my stories at a length that was easy to manage and able to be stapled together. Each Episode\/Chapter had a length of around 10-30ish pages. I would have around 3-5 Episodes\/Chapters for each Season.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 2018, I started to become less interested in writing after going through a really rough time. My stories became unfinished and the quality just wasn\u2019t what it used to be so I stopped writing for a while. I knew that I needed to write because it was my therapy and something that made me happy. I knew I needed to find a new way of writing that could help me get through what I was going through. That\u2019s when music and songwriting came into my life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Music has always been a part of my life. It\u2019s inspired my stories and has allowed me to really understand how I feel. Writing songs allowed me to write with more than one meaning, expressing how I truly felt and things I\u2019ve gone through without directly telling people. I have created and released two full length albums with thirteen songs on each, 2 Extended Plays (EP) and a single.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Whenever I wrote a song, I could envision a whole music video. So I became interested in Filmmaking and Photography. I came up with ideas to create a whole musical film to go along with the music. During COVID, I made a full length documentary film and a few music videos for my second album. With photography, I created and shot my own album covers, promotional pictures. Not only did I use photography for my music, but I also started to create official covers for all my books since their covers were hand drawn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I\u2019ve been returning to writing books recently – rewriting them, creating new covers, and uploading them online to free reading websites\/apps such as Wattpad, Inkitt, and Sweek.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For the future and what I\u2019m working towards, I\u2019m thinking of starting a career in music and writing, and releasing books. I\u2019m excited for what\u2019s to come as I have so many ideas and stories I want to tell in every form of art. I\u2019m taking it one step at a time, however, my hope for the future is to become an Author, Musician, Filmmaker\/Director, a Photographer, as well as sharing my stories, creativity, and helping people through my art.<\/p>\n I attended the first CHAMPS Camp in 2015 and have been going every year since. It was an experience I won\u2019t ever forget. When I first went, I was excited and quite nervous. Excited to finally meet people who were just like me but scared because I didn\u2019t really know what to expect. However, I had the best time and I\u2019ve learnt so many things. One of the things I learned being there and probably the one I will always remember, is that just because I have a heart condition, doesn\u2019t mean that I can\u2019t do something<\/strong><\/em>. The activities we did made me feel more fearless and doing them with other people like me was so amazing. I became good friends with a girl who had the same heart defect as me and it was such a special moment. Being able to relate to each other made me feel so seen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This camp showed me that I can do anything I want without having to worry about my heart.\u00a0 While playing sports at camp has helped me overcome my fear, my interests have shifted and I am no longer interested in hockey. I find it so hard to find the words to explain how much this camp means to me as it has helped me become the person I am today. Now that I\u2019ve graduated from CHAMPS, I\u2019m excited to come back as a counselor and continue to be a part of this amazing organization.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-50px|||||” custom_padding=”||21px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”] Learn more about Brayden and his creative works:<\/strong><\/p>\n @elliotparkermusic<\/span><\/p>\n @storytellbooks<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.wattpad.com\/user\/storytellbooks<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n
My Writing Journey<\/h3>\n
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The Impact of CHAMPS Camp<\/h3>\n