‘Trying to pay it forward’: Greg Olsen’s foundation donates $400K to MUSC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — Former Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen is helping expand support for Lowcountry families with children battling heart conditions through a record-breaking $400,000 donation to MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital.

Olsen presented the donation Wednesday through The HEARTest Yard Foundation, an organization he and his wife, Kara, founded after their son, T.J., was born with a serious congenital heart defect.

For the Olsen family, the mission is personal.

“Our son underwent his own pediatric cardiac journey. He was born with a very serious congenital heart defect,” Olsen said. “From the day he was born, he underwent his first open heart surgery at two days old. He had four before he was two, and then at eight years old, after going into heart failure, he had a heart transplant.”

The family’s experience inspired the Olsens to create The HEARTest Yard, which provides support and services to families of children with congenital heart disease, including in-home nursing care, physical therapy and speech therapy at no cost to families.

The foundation has primarily worked in North Carolina but expanded its efforts to MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital in Charleston five years ago.

This year, The HEARTest Yard Celebrity Classic, an annual golf event held at Kiawah Island Club, raised a record $400,000. The money will go toward expanding the HEARTest Yard Family Wellness and Resource Center at MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital.

“Our entire mission is to just grow the access, elevate the standard of care, make sure that these amazing hospitals and programs have the resources that they need to continue to provide lifesaving, world-class care,” Olsen said.

The resource center focuses not only on medical needs but also on the mental and emotional challenges pediatric heart patients and their families can face throughout their treatment.

Dr. Andrew Savage, a pediatric cardiologist at MUSC who specializes in heart failure and heart transplantation, said previous HEARTest Yard funding has helped support a child psychologist who works directly with patients and their families.

“One of the biggest things that this foundation has helped fund is Heather Adam, who’s our child psychologist, who works with our families and patients, helping them deal with the stress of being in the hospital for long periods of time,” Savage said. “She helps our siblings adjust to that.”

The foundation’s support also extends beyond the hospital. Its services are designed to help families navigate the transition home and the challenges that can continue long after a child leaves the hospital.

For Olsen, the goal is to use his family’s experience to make that journey easier for others.

“We’ve lived our own cardiac journey,” Olsen said. “This program, The HEARTest Yard, really spun out of that own personal experience and just trying to pay it forward. And hopefully people that come down a very similar path that we’ve been down as a family have a better experience than we did.”

Over the past five years, Olsen said the foundation has contributed more than $1.5 million to its program in Charleston.

The Olsen’s plan to continue their fundraising efforts through The HEARTest Yard Foundation, with hopes of raising even more money for Lowcountry families in the future.

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