Kyle the Heart Hero” is a children’s book for ages 5-9 that tells the inspiring true story of Kyle, a young boy who survived cardiac arrest and transformed his experience into a mission to help others. The book follows Kyle’s journey from his medical emergency—where doctors performed CPR for 90 minutes to save his life—through his recovery and eventual transformation into a “Heart Hero” who visits schools to teach CPR awareness.
The story teaches children about recognizing emergencies, calling 911, and the importance of CPR in an age-appropriate way. Kyle challenges young readers to become Heart Heroes themselves through his “Heart Hero Challenge,” emphasizing that “heroes don’t always wear capes—sometimes they just know what to do.” The book includes fun heart facts and ends with Kyle’s personal message about how he’s alive because someone knew CPR, inspiring kids to learn lifesaving skills too.
It’s both an educational tool and an empowering story that shows children they can make a real difference in saving lives.
Gina and Kyle: Co-founders united by love and driven by mission
July 11, 2023. A date that changed everything. What started as an ordinary Sunday for a healthy 24-year-old became the moment a mission was born—not in triumph, but in the fight for life itself.
When Kyle’s heart stopped for 90 minutes, when six defibrillator shocks brought him back from the brink, when a team of heroes refused to let him go—something extraordinary was conceived. Not just Kyle’s second chance at life, but a foundation built on the unshakeable belief that no family should face cardiac arrest unprepared.
The birth of Kyle’s Strong Heart Foundation wasn’t planned in boardrooms or strategy sessions. It was born in a hospital room, in the tears of a mother who almost lost her son, in the determination of medical professionals who wouldn’t give up, and in the heart of a young man who realized his survival wasn’t just about him—it was about everyone who might face what he faced.
From that moment of near-loss came a mission of infinite possibility: to create a community of lifesavers, to turn every person into a potential hero, to ensure that CPR knowledge and AED access become as common as knowing your own address. Because when seconds matter, preparation is everything.
Today, Kyle works as a Code Enforcement Officer and runs Triple Double Juice Co. with his father, Kyle Hewlett, both in East Orange, NJ and lives a full, vibrant life. But his greatest role is being the living proof that missions born from pain can create the most powerful purpose.
600 CPR kits in schools. Countless lives touched. A community awakened. This is what happens when a mission is born not from ambition, but from survival. Not from strategy, but from love.
There’s a moment that defines every mission—a single point in time when purpose crystallizes from pain, when clarity emerges from chaos. For Kyle’s Strong Heart Foundation, that moment came not when Kyle’s heart stopped, but when it started beating again.
Picture this: A 24-year-old Kyle Hewlett lying in a hospital bed, slowly awakening to a world that almost lost him. As consciousness returned, so did the questions. Why him? Why survive when so many don’t? Why endure 90 minutes of CPR and six defibrillator shocks only to wake up to the same world he’d left behind?
But then came the revelation that changed everything.
Kyle learned that his survival wasn’t random—it was the result of people who knew what to do. Medical professionals who refused to give up. A system prepared for the worst-case scenario. Knowledge that turned a death sentence into a second chance. In that hospital room, surrounded by the very people who had fought for his life, Kyle’s “why” became crystal clear.
His survival wasn’t just about him getting another day. It was about ensuring that when someone else’s heart stops—in a school hallway, at a family gathering, in a workplace—there would be people ready to fight for them too. People who knew CPR. People who could operate an AED. People who understood that giving up was never an option.
The “why” wasn’t born from tragedy—it was born from hope. Hope that Kyle’s story could become someone else’s survival guide. Hope that his pain could become their preparation. Hope that his second chance could multiply into countless first chances for others.
Today, when Kyle works as a Code Enforcement officer in East Orange, serves students at Hackensack Middle School, or runs Triple Double Juice Co. with his father, he carries that “why” with him. Every CPR kit placed in schools, every person who learns hands-only CPR, every family that gains the knowledge to act in an emergency—they’re all living proof of why Kyle’s Strong Heart Foundation exists.
Our “why” is simple: Because every heartbeat matters. Because every person deserves a fighting chance. Because sometimes the most powerful purpose is born not from what we’ve achieved, but from what we’ve survived.
July 9, 2023, began like any other Sunday for Kyle Hewlett. A 24-year-old Hampton University graduate with his whole life ahead of him, Kyle had built a meaningful existence in his hometown of Hackensack, New Jersey. He was the kind of young man parents hoped their children would become—respectful, curious, kind, and always ready to help others. During the COVID pandemic, he and his father had opened Triple Double Juice Co., bringing fresh fruit and healthy smoothies to their East Orange community. Life was good, full of promise and possibility.
But tragedy has a way of arriving without warning.
What started as feeling “weird” with chest pain quickly escalated into every family’s worst nightmare. At the hospital, Kyle’s heart simply stopped. For 90 agonizing minutes, medical professionals fought for his life, administering CPR and shocking his heart six times with a defibrillator. His family watched helplessly as their son, brother, and friend hung between life and death. The statistics were against him—survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest hover around just 10%, dropping with each passing minute.
But Kyle was a fighter, and so were the people fighting for him.
When Kyle’s heart finally resumed its rhythm, when his eyes opened again, when he took that first conscious breath—tragedy began its transformation into something extraordinary. In that hospital room, surrounded by the very people who had refused to let him go, Kyle discovered his purpose wasn’t just to survive, but to ensure others could survive too.
The triumph wasn’t just in Kyle’s recovery—though watching him return to full health, completing his education, and rebuilding his strength was miraculous in itself. The real triumph was in what he chose to do with his second chance. Instead of retreating from the world that had nearly lost him, Kyle stepped forward into it with renewed purpose.
Today, Kyle Hewlett is living proof that triumph can emerge from the darkest moments. He works as a Code Enforcement officer for the city of East Orange, serves as a substitute teacher at Hackensack Middle School, and continues running Triple Double Juice Co. with his father. But his greatest role is as the founder and inspiration behind Kyle’s Strong Heart Foundation, where he’s turned his pain into purpose and his survival into a mission to save others.
Through the foundation, Kyle has placed 600 CPR kits in schools, partnered with the American Heart Association, and shared his story with countless students, teachers, and community members. He visits classrooms not as a victim of cardiac arrest, but as a Heart Hero teaching others how to recognize emergencies, call 911, and perform life-saving CPR. His message is simple yet powerful: “I’m alive because someone knew what to do. You can be a hero too.”
The tragedy of July 9, 2023, could have been the end of Kyle’s story. Instead, it became the beginning of his greatest chapter. From a young man fighting for his life to a community leader fighting for others’ lives, Kyle’s journey proves that our lowest moments can become the foundation for our highest purpose.
Kyle’s triumph isn’t measured in what he survived, but in how many others will survive because of what he’s built from his survival. Every person who learns CPR because of his story, every school equipped with life-saving tools, every family prepared for the unthinkable—they are all living testaments to the power of turning tragedy into triumph.
Turning Pain Into Purpose. This isn’t just Kyle’s Strong Heart Foundation’s slogan—it’s the blueprint for transforming life’s greatest challenges into its most meaningful victories.