Cardiac patient Zander Zatylny, 12, uses his podcast to raise awareness for children's hospitals

A 12-year-old boy from Ottawa, who has overcome a rare heart condition, has been raising awareness with his podcast.

From interviewing Jimmy Kimmel to John Stamos, and now, two star players from the Ottawa Senators.

On his podcast Friday, Zander Zatylny had the chance to interview Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle.

"I’m just going to ask them regular fun questions about the team," says Zatylny. 

Zatylny has dealt with a heart condition for his entire life. He uses his podcast to help the hospitals, which are in turn, helping kids like him.

"I’m a cardiac patient myself and I have a heart condition, and I go to CHEO," says Zatylny. "So I want to raise awareness so people will donate to children’s hospitals and raise money for new technology."

This is his second stop on a cross-Canada tour. He’s visiting all seven Canadian hockey teams to raise awareness for local children’s hospitals in their cities.

Zatylny’s parents are backing him all the way. His mom Chrystal Raymond loves how he is giving back.

"I’m super proud of him," says Raymond. "I’m proud of both my children very, very much. But I’m very proud that he has overcome his own heart conditions and he’s trying to pay it forward for what he’s gone through."

Both Stützle and Tkachuk jumped at the chance to be on Zatylny's podcast, to help him in any way he can bring more donations to children’s hospitals. 

"To see how mature he is, and what he does, I think that’s just a great cause," says Stützle. "And we are really happy to be here and help him out as much as possible."

"It tells you about the character he has and we honestly had a great time," says Tkachuk. "It was a great interview. It was one of the best interviews we’ve had all year."

"It was really fun. Really great interview," says Zatylny. "They were great, they were fun, I was having fun, the questions were fun. It was just a great and fun interview."

With Montreal and Ottawa in the books, Zatylny’s next stop will be in Toronto to interview a Maple Leafs player.

You can find all of Zander Zatylny’s podcasts on his YouTube page, including his interview with actor Matthew McConaughey and professional golfer Brooke Henderson.