{"id":2019918,"date":"2025-09-13T20:02:48","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T20:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2019918"},"modified":"2025-09-13T20:02:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T20:02:48","slug":"northwest-arkansas-teen-heart-failure-survivor-stars-in-hallmark-christmas-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/northwest-arkansas-teen-heart-failure-survivor-stars-in-hallmark-christmas-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"Northwest Arkansas teen heart failure survivor stars in Hallmark Christmas movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

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BELLA VISTA, Ark. (KNWA\/KFTA) \u2014 Mackenzie Maddry, 19, a Bentonville High School graduate who overcame heart failure, will appear in a Hallmark Christmas movie later this year.<\/p>\n

Maddry, who serves as an ambassador for Abbott HeartMates, a program created by Abbott Laboratories to support patients living with heart conditions, will appear in \u201cThe More the Merrier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mackenzie<\/span><\/div>\n

Mackenzie Maddry, 19. (COURTESY: Abbott Laboratories)<\/p>\n

The film, set in a hospital during the holiday season, will feature Maddry, NFL safety Damar Hamlin and four other young HeartMates ambassadors, according to a news release.<\/p>\n

In the movie, a 14-year-old heart patient named David brings \u201cunexpected joy, connection and a few surprises to everyone around him\u201d during a Christmas Eve snowstorm, according to an Abbott news release. The character is based on Zeke Mankins, a Dallas HeartMates ambassador who received a mechanical heart valve after open-heart surgery at age 12.<\/p>\n

Abbott makes devices including the HeartMate 3 LVAD, which supported Maddry\u2019s heart while she awaited a transplant.<\/p>\n

Diagnosed at 14 with osteosarcoma, Maddry underwent 21 cycles of chemotherapy that weakened her heart, according to a release. In 2022, she received a HeartMate 3 LVAD, becoming the first pediatric patient at her hospital discharged with the device.<\/p>\n

Phillip Park in Bentonville opens to public following renovations <\/a><\/p>\n

After nearly two years on the transplant list, she received a heart transplant in 2024, graduated from Bentonville High School, and is pursuing a career in healthcare.<\/p>\n

Hamlin, who suffered cardiac arrest during a Buffalo Bills game in January 2023, made a full recovery and played 14 games last season.<\/p>\n

\"(COURTESY:<\/span><\/div>\n

(COURTESY: Abbott Laboratories)<\/p>\n

Since then, he has become active in heart health advocacy through Abbott and the American Heart Association. \u201cThe More the Merrier\u201d will be his second appearance in a Hallmark movie this year, the other one being \u201cHoliday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

More information about the HeartMates program and the upcoming film can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/i><\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KNWA FOX24. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BELLA VISTA, Ark. (KNWA\/KFTA) \u2014 Mackenzie Maddry, 19, a Bentonville High School graduate who overcame heart failure, will appear in a Hallmark Christmas movie later this year. Maddry, who serves as an ambassador for Abbott HeartMates, a program created by Abbott Laboratories to support patients living with heart conditions, will appear in \u201cThe More the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2019919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[371044,371039,371040,367631,371042,352862,371045,349920,371043,371046,371041,371047],"class_list":["post-2019918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-abbott-heartmates","tag-abbott-laboratories","tag-bentonville-high-school","tag-bills","tag-damar-hamlin","tag-hallmark-movie","tag-heart-conditions","tag-heart-failure","tag-heart-patient","tag-heart-transplant","tag-mackenzie-maddry","tag-mechanical-heart-valve"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Northwest-Arkansas-teen-heart-failure-survivor-stars-in-Hallmark-Christmas.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2019918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2019918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2019918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2019918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2019918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}