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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Ont. and Que. scramble to recover from thunderstorm that left at least 8 dead
Clean-up efforts are underway after a massive thunderstorm on Saturday left a trail of destruction in Southern Ontario and Quebec.

What is a 'derecho'? Climatologist explains Saturday's powerful storm
The storm that moved across Ontario and Quebec Saturday is known as a 'derecho', a powerful kind of windstorm that is long lasting and far-reaching.
Trained dogs can identify COVID-19 by sniffing skin swabs: study
A new study that brought sniffer dogs to an airport to search for COVID-19 has found that dogs may be able to detect the virus with high accuracy just from smelling skin swabs.
Russian sentenced to life in Ukraine's 1st war crimes trial
A Ukrainian court sentenced a 21-year-old Russian soldier to life in prison Monday for killing a civilian, sealing the first conviction for war crimes since Moscow's invasion three months ago.
How concerned should we be about monkeypox?
Global health officials have sounded the alarm over rising cases in Europe and elsewhere of monkeypox, a type of viral infection more common to west and central Africa. Here's what we know about the current outbreak and the relative risk.
Officials expect 3 to 4 days to restore power across Ottawa following storm
Hydro Ottawa says it will take several days to restore power and clean up after a severe storm damaged hydro poles and wires on Saturday.
Group of Ontario lawyers petitions courts to keep proceedings virtual
More than 1,000 lawyers in Ontario have signed a petition to make all court appearances 'presumptively virtual unless parties and their counsel agree otherwise.'
Flames engulf Indigenous-owned resort in B.C. Interior
Guests at an Indigenous-owned resort in B.C.'s Interior were evacuated Sunday morning and watched as firefighters tried to contain the flames that had engulfed the building's roof.
78,000 pounds of infant formula arrives in U.S.
A military plane carrying enough specialty infant formula for more than half a million baby bottles arrived Sunday in Indianapolis, the first of several flights expected from Europe aimed at relieving a shortage that has sent parents scrambling to find enough to feed their children.