Joe Genuardi is a local central Florida musician and the entertainment director for dueling piano bar company, Howl at the Moon. Joe lives in Clermont, Florida with his wife, Taylor, 6-year-old son Beckett, and 3-year-old daughter Harper. When Beckett was 2 months old, he was rushed to the emergency room after an episode of him not being able to breathe. There he was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy or DCM. His Mom, Taylor, shared “That was one of the darkest and scariest times of our lives. Seeing my little baby hooked up to all of those machines will be something I will never forget. Every day since then with Beckett has become that much more special.” After spending only 9 days on the national transplant list Beckett received his new heart! Five years have gone by and Beckett continues to be a healthy kindergartener. Until 2020 Beckett and his family have been able to live their lives pretty normally. Taking out some intense contact sports, like football, and Beckett could basically do anything any other kid could. He joined a T-ball team in 2019, but mostly loved listening to and playing music with his dad, Joe.
Beckett and younger sister, Harper, are part of a large family. Joe has four older daughters from a previous marriage. That makes six! In March of 2020 Beckett’s doctors called with some alarming news about a new potential deadly virus called, Covid-19. Like with any transplant recipient, immune deficiencies are a concern. With Beckett’s transplanted heart always at risk of his body rejecting, an added threat is concerning. In an article published by Trends in Transplantation and titled, Heart transplantation in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic they talk about the risks involved with a transplant patient getting COVID-19. They state, “although it is predominantly a respiratory illness, there is growing awareness of the cardiovascular manifestations of COVID-19 disease.” With concrete information being hard to get with this new infection, Joe and Taylor Genuardi decided to take no chances with their young son’s health. An RN at Shand’s Hospital, Cheyanne Richardson stated, “When it’s a matter of life or death in new infections like COVID-19, patients with a history of medical problems must stay inside and away from others.” In April of 2020 Beckett began showing signs of his body rejecting his new heart. With this information his team of doctor’s decided to do monthly infusions in an attempt to trick his body into not rejecting his good heart. So far, this treatment is working, however it involves Beckett and his mom, Taylor, to take monthly trips to Shand’s Hospital in Gainesville, FL. With this trip comes and undeniable risk of infecting Beckett with COVID-19. So far, they have been able to evade getting COVID-19 even with their trips to the hospital. Dr. Autumn Jordan stated, “the risks of Beckett catching COVID-19 while at the hospital receiving his injections are much lower than the risk of his heart rejecting without them. In this case, the pros outweigh the cons.”
After being in quarantine for a little less than a month Joe and Taylor Genuardi quickly realized that they are going to need more than just the normal tools to entertain not only Beckett and Harper, but also themselves. Just like that the PartyHearty YouTube channel was born. Joe and Beckett began doing daily cover song of various artists right at home. It was amazing how fast Beckett was able to memorize these songs with his dad. While Taylor and Harper make the occasional guest appearance, the focus primarily rests on Joe and Beckett. After months’ worth of covers, Joe decided it would be a good idea for him and Beckett to start writing their own songs. They began writing and producing songs about everything! From songs about his older sisters’ dogs, to honeybees, to racoons, there is a song that anyone could relate to.
Songs turned into cooking shows, to live streams. Before they knew it the PartyHearty YouTube channel had just under 2,000 followers! Suddenly they began getting messages and comments on their videos from people all over the world. It became clear that this project isn’t just a way for two parents to keep their kids entertained, but rather a beacon of light for a lot of people on any given day. Joe shared, “The YouTube channel started as a way to keep us entertained and playing music, but quickly turned into something more. We started getting messages from people sharing with us that our videos brighten their days. That is why we kept going.” 2020 will infamously go down as one of the most difficult years for most people not just in the United States, but all over the world. From financial problems, to millions of people losing their jobs, to hundreds and thousands of deaths from COVID-19, the world is seemingly looking darker rather than lighter. What Joe and Beckett sought out to do was to provide a relief from those negative feels but uploading video content that just makes you feel good.
Like most good things, there seems to be an end date for Joe to return back to work, making him not as readily available for video content with Beckett. Their older daughter, Madeline, stated, “It is work to record and edit videos every day on top of running a normal household. If they can make it every day for a year, I’ll be impressed.” Joe works for Howl at the Moon, a dueling piano bar in Orlando, Florida. He is in open rooms with people not just who live locally, but also people from all over the world who are still able to travel. He is also on stage with other performers, making it difficult at times to be six feet apart. Since the threat for Beckett’s health is still at risk, Joe can’t be around him and his wife and daughter while also working. This called for the family to tape off the guest room in their downstairs portion of their home so he can come and go as needed.
Luckily, there is a back door that can be accessed from their back porch to his room, so he doesn’t need to walk through the house. His wife, Taylor, leaves food for him outside the door to his room. Joe also plays his instruments either outside while six feet apart with Beckett, or from different rooms and piecing them together. They have certainly gotten creative during this new time!
Like most of the world, the Genuardi’s are looking forward to a time when they can not only be together again with each other, but also with the rest of their large and blended family. Until then, they will continue to put Beckett’s health first, while also bringing a much-needed relief to the rest of us with their PartyHearty YouTube channel.
Mental Health 