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Sanctus Real Founder to Release Documentary on Son’s Heart Condition

Matt Hammit/Instagram

Sanctus Real Founder to Release Documentary on Son’s Heart Condition

By Movieguide® Contributor

Matt Hammit, the founder and former frontman for Christian band Sanctus Real, will release a documentary about his son Bowen’s heart condition, which is why Hammit walked away from fame to put his family first. 

Hammitt’s son Bowen was born in 2010 with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which means the heart is severely underdeveloped at birth. More than 30% of children born with the problem do not make it to their fifth birthday. 

“All we could do was wait and pray and try to find our hope in the Lord,” Hammitt said. Just five days after Bowen’s birth, he underwent open-heart surgery. 

“That night of his first surgery actually he had some complications to the point where he coded and they called us and told us that his heart stopped beating,” Hammitt shared. “I had spent so many months just hoping and believing as a father and giving everything that I had just to like praying for that miracle and that breakthrough, that honestly just really jarred me to get that call in the middle of the night.”

Bowen survived the surgery and is now 11 years old.

The story is told in BOWEN’S HEART, a documentary which will be available for streaming next month.

According to Deadline:

Global Digital Releasing has acquired rights to Lexi Read and Zach Read’s feature documentary Bowen’s Heart, slating it for release on digital July 14. Bowen’s Heart offers a deeply vulnerable view of how chronic illness impacts an entire family. It follows eight-year-old Bowen Hammitt through his third major open-heart surgery, as his parents struggle with the hope that the surgery could make his life better and the knowledge that it could make things much worse.

“Through the documentary we take all the pain and make it purposeful,” Hammitt’s wife, Sarah, says.

Hammitt is thankful for his son’s continued health, and now works to make sure others understand the gift of parenthood. 

“I think of all the women or young men who sit across from a doctor who says the best choice for you is to relinquish your fatherhood or relinquish your motherhood and move on with your life, but that’s not empowerment,” he said. “Empowerment is saying, ‘You can choose this life that God has given you. You can be a mother and you can be the father that God has called you to be.'” 

His commitment to fatherhood also led him to leave Sanctus Real. 

“I could see all my good intentions as a father, and I could see that there’s so many things I wanted to do as a dad,” he explained. “And I think that’s been the biggest growth in me is learning that it’s great to have good intentions, but they’re worthless until they become actions.”

So, what is Hammitt’s message for fathers?

“Celebrate who you’re called and designed to be as a father, and get off the bench and really get into the game,” he shared. “It’s the greatest job that we’ll ever get to do in our lives next to following Christ and loving the woman that he’s put in our lives.”

 

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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.