Let me begin my story with what my doctor told me earlier this week. I am the luckiest girl in the whole wide world.

On Oct. 3, 2021, I collapsed on the softball field after a tag to the chest. This tag sent me into a seizure followed by approximately two minutes of cardiac arrest. Luckily, I was saved by an amazing and prepared group of people performing CPR and using a defibrillator. You would think my story and my luck would end there. I mean, that’s pretty damn lucky. But that was just the beginning. 

My life returned to normal, going to college and classes like any normal 21-year-old, with a few doctor appointments sprinkled in. Doctors were so close to chalking up what happened to me as ‘a freak accident’ and closing the case, declaring me lucky to be alive and moving forward. Luckily, one doctor, my cardiologist, insisted on checking every single little box before making the final call. 

On Oct. 28, I had one last test: a CAT scan. With all of my other tests coming back normal, I expected this one to do the same. It didn’t. When the doctor didn’t show up for hours after the scan finished, I knew something was wrong. The doctor pulled me into a room with a very serious expression and told me that the CAT scan revealed something called ALCAPA, or anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery. This is a congenital defect I was born with where my left coronary artery comes from the pulmonary artery which is not where it’s supposed to come from. Basically, I was not getting as much oxygenated blood flow to my heart that I should’ve been. This is an extremely dangerous condition, but also one that shows just how lucky I really am.

There are one in 300 thousand babies born with ALCAPA (.00000333% of the world) and if not caught in the first year of life, the fatality rate for people with this defect is 90%. The irregular way my heart functioned 21 years later wasn’t going to last forever, and as scary as it sounds, I could’ve dropped dead at any given moment. The odds of a defibrillator and a trainer who knows CPR being there when it happened again weren’t very high. The doctors decided to keep me in the hospital from that day on until they could perform surgery on me on Monday, Nov. 1. 

The next few days were a lot for me mentally. I couldn’t help but ask, “Why me? Why is this happening to me, but also why am I the one to defy these insane odds for over two decades?” It was all so much to process, but no matter what emotions I faced — anger, sadness, doubt or fear — I kept coming back to what my doctor said: I really am the luckiest girl in the whole wide world. This has been a confusing time for me, a stressful time, but also one of truly understanding just how much of a blessing it was to be alive for these past 21 years. 

The surgery went perfectly, performed by one of the best of the best in congenital cardiac surgery, and now the recovery process has begun. It’s going to be a grind, but I know it is something I can handle and come out of even stronger. Every day I wake up, and even though the pain is unbearable at times, I tell myself it’s going to be okay. I will get to live a strong, healthy and happy life, and for that, I am thankful.

My friend Rachel Hubertus gave me this quote to think about right before my surgery: “God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers.” These are the words that I will live by through this entire healing process. I am looking forward to making a full recovery and hitting the softball field once again when the time is right. That could be months from now, but that is the light at the end of my tunnel. With my teammates, friends, family, coaches, doctors and all those behind me supporting me, I know I can accomplish anything.