Tournament Contact
Conner Hill
2403130725
conner@strongerheartsfoundation.com
Conner Hill
2403130725
conner@strongerheartsfoundation.com
Hearts & Clubs Classic: Compass Pointe Golf Courses | Wednesday September 30, 2026
Built from the fight. Powered by love.
In July 2024, during a routine 20-week anatomy scan, Conner and his wife received a diagnosis no parent is prepared for: their son Dawson had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) — a critical congenital heart defect where the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped. It meant open-heart surgery within days of birth, a lifetime of cardiac care, and a road no one gives you a map for.
Dawson underwent his first open-heart surgery — the Norwood procedure — at three days old at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. It lasted nearly 8 hours. His chest was left open for three days. He spent Thanksgiving, and eventually Christmas, in the hospital. When he finally came home on Christmas morning 2024, it was one of the most meaningful days of their lives.
But the fight didn't stop there. Emergency medevac flights, respiratory crises, a second major surgery in May 2025 — the Glenn procedure plus aortopexy — and countless days of recovery taught the family something critical: the medical system can save a child's heart, but it doesn't always support the family holding everything together.
Hotels were expensive. Housing programs had weeks-long waitlists. Families were left scrambling for food, rides, and somewhere to sleep — all while their child was in surgery.
Stronger Hearts Foundation was created to close that gap.
Stronger Hearts Foundation provides immediate, practical support to families of children with congenital heart disease during the most critical moments of their journey. We focus on five core pillars:
When a child is admitted to the cardiac ICU, families shouldn't have to choose between affording a hotel room and being near their child. We provide emergency housing and travel assistance, day of surgery care packages, neurodevelopmental tools, and other immediate, practical support during the most acute moments of the CHD journey.
CHD doesn't end in childhood. We support the growing population of adult CHD survivors navigating a healthcare system not built for them. We provide financial addistance, community connection, and resources tailored to the unique complexities of adult CHD care and transplant care.
Policy shapes outcomes. We mobilize at the federal and state level to advance funding for CHD research, strengthen surveillance infrastructure, and push for inclusion of congenital conditions in research programs. We bring CHD families to the table where decisions are made.
The gap between a diagnosis and understanding it can be devastating. We build education programs for non-cardiac emergency departments, develop tools that help families navigate cardiac units, and raise awareness so that CHD is recognized for what it is: the most common birth defect, and one of the least funded.
Better outcomes require better science. We support efforts to improve single ventricle monitoring programs, fund research initiatives, and develop technology including AI-powered tools that help families navigate their child’s cardiac journey with clarity and confidence.
Every registration, every sponsorship, every donation from this tournament goes directly to supporting CHD families. There are no middlemen. No overhead bloat. When you play on September 30th, you're helping a parent sleep closer to their child's hospital bed. You're putting food in their hands on the longest day of their lives. You're telling a family they're not forgotten.
Nobody voluntarily signs up to be a part of this club. But once you're in it, you're family. And family shows up.
Stronger Hearts Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN: 33-4429684
Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.