Nominate Your Hero!
The Heroes for Young Hearts awards recognize individuals who demonstrate a continuous commitment in their local community to raise awareness of Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) in youth by taking specific actions that support the Parent Heart Watch (PHW) mission of protecting youth from Sudden Cardiac Arrest and preventable Sudden Cardiac Death. Nominees are not required to be Parent Heart Watch members.
Categories include

Nomination Process Requirements
- Submit an online nomination here
- Submit a video nomination
Upon submission of the online nomination, you will receive an email with instructions and tips for creating and uploading a video to our Vimeo platform. A video nomination example can be viewed here. - To be considered by the Selection Committee, nominations should be for one (1) individual per category (no groups) and must include specific details about the actions taken by the nominee between October 2023 and September 2024 to support the PHW mission (i.e., research that helps advance our cause, organized 3 community heart screening events, placed 50 AEDs, trained others in CPR & AED use, etc.)
- For more details on the nomination process, download the Heroes For Young Hearts Flyer
Awards Presentation
Awards will be presented on Friday, January 17, 2025 during PHW 20th Annual National Heart to Heart welcome dinner at the DoubleTree by Hilton Portland in Oregon. PHW covers airfare, hotel accommodations and meals for award winner only, unless the award winner is a minor, then one (1) parent/guardian will also be covered. If you have any questions, please call 800.717.5828 or email to contact@parentheartwatch.org.
Past Award Winners
Scott & Melody Stephens
Scott & Melody Stephens

2016 Adult Advocacy Champions
Scott and Melody Stephens were married in 1983 after they finished their degrees at Texas A&M University. They had 3 children – Clay 28, Katie 25 and Cody – who died of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in May of 2012 and was 18 at the time. Scott is a full-time real estate appraiser and owner of Scott Stephens and Associates, Inc. Melody has just begun her affiliation with ProjectAdam at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. After Cody was lost, Scott and Melody started a foundation to offer free ECG screening to Texas student athletes. Using some of Cody’s last words to his dad, the Cody Stephens Go Big or Go Home Memorial Foundation was formed in 2012. Since that time, the foundation has raised approximately $700,000 and has screened over 50,000 student athletes in collaboration with Who We Play For. Scott and Melody introduced Texas House Bill 767, which would require ECGs to be included with sports physicals twice in an athlete’s career, unless the athlete declines to be tested. It passed the Texas House of Representatives in the Spring of 2015, but failed in the Senate Committee. In keeping with Cody’s motto, Scott and Melody will continue their legislative efforts to “Go Big” in Texas.
Sameer Jafri
Sameer Jafri

2016 Youth Advocacy Champion
Sameer Jafri founded Saving Hearts Foundation in October 2014 at the age of 18. He was inspired by the efforts of the EP Save A Life Foundation while he attended high school in San Diego. The mission of Saving Hearts Foundation is to provide free preventative heart screenings to youth in order to test for underlying heart conditions that may lead to sudden cardiac arrest. In addition, the Foundation strives to teach our youth how to perform CPR and use AEDs and works to place AEDs in schools and community centers that cannot afford to purchase them on their own. In just a year, Saving Hearts has screened nearly 1,000 people domestically and abroad. The Foundation has also worked to raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrest by speaking at various Los Angeles area high schools. In addition, because of a number of generous contributions by local community members, Saving Hearts is in the process of placing 4 AEDs in schools that previously had none. The entire Saving Hearts Foundation team is comprised of college students who are looking to be the future of sudden cardiac arrest prevention for many years to come.
Jack Cadigan IV
Jack Cadigan IV

2016 Young Survivor Advocacy Champion
Jack’s story began in the summer of 2012. He went to Haiti with his father, a cardiologist, and sister on a medical mission trip to a remote trip to St. Rock, a remote village in the mountains in the mountains above Port au Prince, Haiti. Jack volunteered in an orphanage and helped out in the clinic, performing ECGs. His father secured an old donated ECG machine and used Jack as the test case. Jack wasn’t told until he returned home that his ECG was abnormal. After an echocardiogram it was discovered that he had a major congenital abnormality that went unidentified, even though he had seen seven pediatricians throughout his life. Jack required life-saving open heart surgery in October of 2012.
Two years later, Jack and his father learned about the Cody Stephens Go Big or Go Home Foundation. They found out about Texas Bill 767 being sponsored by the Stephens’ and travelled to Texas to testify in support of the heart screening bill. Although it didn’t pass the Senate, Jack feels it’s his moral obligation to protect other kids from SCA. He plans to pursue a career in medicine.