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One AARP member’s Christmas love letter to Tennessee

AARP

Published November 11, 2026

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In 1997, Carrie Romero’s heart stopped beating. A 28-year-old, otherwise healthy woman, she was not the expected patient for sudden cardiac arrest. The event would bring her to St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, where she received life-saving care.

This is how Tennessee became the backdrop for Carrie’s journey of healing. She would continue to receive treatment at St. Thomas Hospital (now Ascension), and later transfer to Vanderbilt.

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So, when Carrie and her husband Gus Romero set out to make a Christmas movie about her story of hope and survival, they knew Nashville had to be at the heart of it.

The Christmas Heartbeat follows the story of Julia Winters after she survives sudden cardiac arrest. After surviving, she leaves New York City for her childhood home so she can recover. For Winters, home is a small, fictional town in Tennessee.

Being set in the Volunteer State, the movie is full of Southern charm, accents and music. Tennessee, however, is more than a plot point.

The movie was filmed at various sites around Nashville. This includes the Blakeford retirement home in Green Hills, as well as Nashville State’s nursing center.

“It was kind of a love letter back to the fact that my journey started here as a cardiac arrest survivor,” said Carrie.

In Nashville, Carrie was able to receive the care she needed to thrive as a survivor. She had an Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD) put into her chest that would shock her heart back into action if it ever detected an abnormality in her heartbeat.

Nashville also provided Carrie with the connections needed to create The Christmas Heartbeat.

1997 was also the year the Oilers arrived in Tennessee. They would quickly become the Tennessee Titans. For Carrie, following the team and its rebranding became a distraction from her condition and part of her healing journey.

Years later, in 2018, she and Gus would become season ticket holders. Through this, they met Nashville-native Lance Smith, the director of The Christmas Heartbeat. Smith had just started a studio, and Gus wanted to share Carrie’s story.

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“We wanted to put it in this kind of medium, because stories are one of the most powerful things we have,” said Gus. “It was the right time for us. It was the right time for them.”

The partnership would turn the Romeros into first-time filmmakers in their 50s, an adventure they did not expect to take, but were happy to be on.

“It always felt bigger than us,” said Gus. “We were just on this speeding train.”

At the center of the movie was a desire to educate about sudden cardiac arrest, while also remaining light enough to entertain the audience. Through the film, Carrie said she wanted to show “the steps it takes to kind of get to a place where you can live again.” She also wanted to challenge pre-conceived notions about cardiac arrest.

“It doesn’t have a stereotype,” she said. “Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, at any time, any age.”

While Carrie’s journey served as the inspiration for the film, the movie became far more than one woman’s story. It became a story about community. The Christmas Heartbeat is about sudden cardiac arrest, but also speaks to dementia patients, the importance of family and, naturally, to Tennessee.

“It was a love letter to… community,” said Gus. “To the heart community, to the dementia community, to the caregivers.”

Now AARP members, Carrie and Gus hope to inspire viewers from all walks of life.

“No matter what age you are, I don’t think you should put a limit on what is possible,” said Carrie. “Believe in yourself.”

The Christmas Heartbeat is now streaming on Prime Video.

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