Joanne Crisp and Csaba Ovari

Joanne Crisp is a mother of three children – James, born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and heart healthy children Tim and Heather. When it was discovered that James would be born with HLHS, Joanne and her husband Peter were given little hope. Joanne’s sister Deb Rennie decided to create a website to allow Australian families to share the stories of their journeys with complex heart defects and called it Hearts of Hope Australia.

This enabled Joanne to make connections all across Australia and it included connecting with Csaba Ovari, the father of a son with HLHS. Together, Csaba helped Hearts of Hope Australia to become a National Not-for-Profit Organization. Joanne and Csabe have been Directors since the beginning and have gained the respect of leading clinicians from the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and were even asked to be part of a discussion panel to establish a National Funded Center for the treatment of HLHS.