AKRON, Ohio — A 10-year-old North Canton girl is using her social media platform for good. Aubree Blake is sharing her journey with a congenital heart defect and picking up followers around the world.
The 5th-grade student at North Canton Schools was born with a coarctation of the aorta, needing surgery when she was just seven days old. At 9-years-old Aubree needed an even more intense surgery.
Leading up to that major heart surgery at Akron Children's Hospital, Aubree spoke candidly on TikTok about what she was about to go through.
"It just shows that I was really brave during that moment and that it shows me now that I could do it again if I need it," said Aubree.
Her father, Christopher Blake, said making the videos with his daughter helped them both process.
"I think the more that we prepared for those videos, the more that we communicated and talked about the procedure itself and why she had to have it," said Christopher.
Quickly, the "EMS" side of TikTok started engaging with Aubree. A popular account called "The Sleepy Paramedic" shared Aubree's journey, and her following took off.
"She got quite the following and became somewhat of a TikTok star, and it's just kind of gone from there," said Christopher.
Heading in for surgery, hand in hand with her Dad, Aubree's medical team was amazed by her calmness. Little did the staff at Akron Children's know the young girl had folks around the world cheering for her.
"It's a huge deal to go on a heart-lung machine, have your circulation stopped throughout your body with the exception of profusion of the brain," said Dr. Robert Stewart, Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Akron Children's Hospital.
"When I got out of it I got to look through all the comments and it was really fun to just get out of it and it really got off my mind," said Aubree.
By far, her most popular video, leaving the hospital and returning to her happy, healthy life.
"This is the ultimate example of a young lady taking something difficult in her life and turning it into something amazing, and so, more power to that young lady," said Dr. Stewart.
Aubree is still getting checked by her cardiology team regularly and is doing well.
