Local Teen Activist & Chef is Part Of San Diego Teen of Impact AHA Project

I would like to introduce you all to someone I know pretty well: Cadence Mitchell. Cadence has had more challenges in her young life than most of us have in our entire life. But instead of being defeated, Cadence has risen to the challenge and has become a force to be reckoned with for good, for change, and for spreading the word of the need for help and awareness.

I asked Cadence's mom, Melissa to first give us some background:

Our local hero and activist Cadence Mitchell was nominated for Teen of Impact by the San Diego American Heart Association. If she wins, she will earn scholarship dollars for culinary school. It is a 9-week campaign that has staged themes. She is looking for team members who will help promote the themes (like Move More, Eating healthy, Mental Wellness, Vaping/Smoking Cessation, and her favorite: CPR, which has saved all four of her family members.) There are a lot of ways to be involved and a ton of corporate sponsorship opportunities. Everything from having a corporate logo on tables at a luncheon to having someone come train employees in CPR. 

Born at 35 weeks, Cadence weighed 4 pounds 13 ounces. She underwent her first open heart surgery when she was just 4 days old. Cadence (who was named for the rhythm of a healthy heart) was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and has now had dozens of heart surgeries and procedures. She has a pacemaker and takes several medications every day. She also lives with cirrhosis of her liver, Crohn's, and growth hormone deficiency (for which she had to give herself daily injections for nine years). Cadence continues to be followed by Rady Children's specialists in cardiology, GI and endocrinology. She is a home chef with plans to go to culinary school. She owns a horse, volunteers with animal shelters, is training for the Junior Olympics in archery, and does many more activities. Cadence was given a 5% chance to live when she was born, but she is a warrior! 

and now a message from the warrior herself: Cadence Mitchell:

I would like to ask people to support the American Heart Association through my campaign. The AHA funds research to save lives, provides heart and health education, and offers CPR education. It helps provide CPR training modules to schools and CPR home kits for new parents. All my family members have been saved by CPR and I believe everyone should have an opportunity to learn it.

Supporting my campaign means helping save lives of people with heart disease. My mom, my brother and I, were all born with congenital heart defects, have had dozens of heart surgeries/procedures, and have pacemakers. My dad, grandma, and grandpa, all survived massive heart attacks. Being involved is easy. You could send out a couple of messages on your social media referencing my campaign, provide corporate/company sponsorship, or simply make a donation to my campaign website provided by the AHA. There are many sponsorship opportunities, from matching gift programs, to company logo/information recognition at big AHA events, or sponsoring many AHA programs like CPR in a school. The donation website is: http://www2.heart.org/goto/chefcadence

I am a home chef and this award could provide me scholarship dollars towards culinary school. More importantly, I'm trying to save lives like mine and my family members. Thank you for your support! For more information, you can email: cadenceahacampaign@gmail.com or check out my Instagram: @chefcadence 

I am taking the small step of letting you all know about Cadence and what she is asking of all of us.

Will you help her reach her goals and continue represent the Temecula Valley proudly?

If you personally reach out, or if you own a business who decides to sponsor Cadence in some way, let me know, so I can talk about her progress and how your business is helping her out during my morning show on KMYT radio 94/5.

I thank you in advance for your help...