Elizabeth

At age 18 I was diagnosed with an Atrial Septal Defect. As many know this was a very late age to find something like this. I was actually not surprised that something was wrong with my heart. I had always known I was different if the fact that I was not able to run as far or as fast as the other kids in school. My mother always just told me to get into shape and I wont have that problem.

On June 11th, 2009, five days before my 19th birthday I had open heart surgery. After a successful surgery I was sent to the PICU. I thought it was weird that I was legally an adult but still in the pediatric ward. I can't remember very much but I do remember hearing my surgeon say, "Don't worry your surgery was a piece of cake. See that baby in the room across from you, she is three days old and her heart is the size of a strawberry!"