After heart surgery, the longer work of healing begins

MANILA, Philippines – Jaden and Friends Inc., the nonprofit known for supporting Filipino children living with congenital heart disease and developmental needs, recently received a ₱7.776-million grant for its Developmental Therapy Support Program from Jonathan M. Sterling.

For overseas Filipino worker Janice Lopez, saving her son Jaden meant leaving the country to find the people who could do it.

Jaden was born with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect that could only be corrected with open-heart surgery.

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Lopez sought help from several charitable organizations and was turned away repeatedly — until she found Gift of Life International, whose surgeons gave Jaden a second shot at life.

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“After Jaden’s operation, Janice promised God that Jaden’s life would mean something,” said Loradel Febellon, a friend of Lopez whose own child, Rajah, would later be among those the organization helped.

Febellon turned to Lopez after learning that her own daughter had congenital heart disease.

“Everything Janice knew, she taught me. After two months, my daughter was able to undergo surgery. After what she did for us, I wanted to help other families too,” she shared.

Six years later, the nonprofit she founded, Jaden and Friends Inc., says it has assisted more than 2,000 children living with congenital heart disease, Down syndrome, and other developmental needs.

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On July 8, the organization signed an agreement for a ₱7.776-million grant from British donor Jonathan Sterling.

The funding will support physical, occupational and speech therapy, developmental pediatric evaluations, progress assessments, and prescribed therapy materials through De Los Santos Medical Center’s Center for Pediatric Development and Rehabilitation.

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The program addresses a challenge that often remains after a child’s heart procedure is completed: obtaining the sustained developmental care needed during recovery and childhood.

For many families, that support answers the question that follows a successful heart surgery: what comes next? Recovery often requires years of therapy, developmental support, and consistent follow-up care — services that can determine how fully a child is able to grow, learn, and thrive.

The occasion was marked by a video presentation from Jaden and Friends highlighting the impact of Sterling’s assistance on the children it serves.

During the event, Sterling toured DLSMC’s pediatric development and rehabilitation facilities and spent time speaking with parents about their children’s treatment journeys, recovery, and ongoing care needs.

“It was a huge honor for me to get to meet these people: charity workers, hospital administrators, doctors, medical staff, mothers and fathers of the kids, and of course the kids themselves,” Sterling said.

This is not the first time Jaden and Friends found a friend in Sterling.

His first donation — made in honor of the late father of his partner, Miss Universe Philippines 2022 Celeste Cortesi, who died of complications from heart disease when she was 10 years old — funded pediatric heart surgeries, cardiac screenings, and essential medicines, along with medical equipment for the organization’s pediatric cardiac screening and care program with the DLSMC.

Since then, that help has extended well outside Metro Manila, reaching children in need of heart care in provinces such as Nueva Ecija.

“As of today, Mr. Sterling’s donated machines have already reached 661 patients in our provincial cardio medical screenings with DLSMC,” said Alice Margallo, a representative of Jaden and Friends.

“With this, families with children with congenital heart disease have access to early diagnosis and treatment for their children.”

And the organization wants to reach even more. It plans to continue bringing pediatric heart care to far-flung communities across the Philippines while financially supporting parents who seek to heal their children’s hearts.

For Dr. Louisa Joan Go, a cardiologist at DLSMC, the equipment donations and grants have helped children in remote areas access care they would otherwise can’t.

“The donated equipment allows us to do more complicated procedures, to be able to plan better, so that we can get the best outcome for our little patients,” she said.

“The partnership between Mr. Jonathan Sterling and Jaden and Friends helps us reach more children so that we can treat them in a timely manner, so that we can improve their overall health and survival.”

Timely diagnosis, she stressed, remains one of the most important factors in a child’s outcome.

“Congenital heart disease occurs in about one out of every 100 live births. If there is a problem, it needs to be diagnosed and treated as early as possible. The earlier we intervene, the better the chances for a healthy future.”

To parents newly facing the diagnosis, she offered this: “Find the courage to fight for your children, because nobody will help your children better than you.”

Asked about the impact his giving has had on Jaden and Friends and the thousands of children it serves, Sterling was quick to brush the question aside. To the entrepreneur, the real heroes are the people on the ground.

“In my mind, it’s easy to sign a contract and send a bank transfer, but the real hard work is the actual day-to-day operations,” Sterling said.

“Every day, these people show up and take care of children in need. Children that didn’t choose to be born the way they are. The mothers and fathers being strong for their children, and the doctors and medical staff that have the skills to mend those tiny hearts — those are the real heroes.”

For Janice Lopez, Loradel Febellon, Dr. Go, and the families behind Jaden and Friends, the work of caring for every child living with a heart condition or developmental need continues — six years on, a mother’s promise still gathering people around it.

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Sterling, for his part, keeps his role simple: “If everyone works together and contributes what they can, then we all end up better off.”