Everything was blurry when I woke up from my coma, several thoughts ran through my mind. “What happened?” “Why am I in a hospital?” I never could have guessed that I had heart failure and flatlined. January 31, 2017, it is a day filled with fear and blessings. For the past week I had felt sick, I was diagnosed with pneumonia and thought that it would eventually go away and I would be healthy again. However, that’s not what happened. January 29, 2017, I went to the then Jewish hospital ER twice in one day, I was sent home each time as if there was nothing wrong. The next day January 30, 2017, I went to my primary care physician and was sent home. All of those physicians thought that I would be okay with time. January 31, 2017, I can’t remember anything from that day but from what my parents told me it definitely is something that has affected me for the rest of my life. On that fateful Tuesday, I was in so much pain, I couldn’t breathe. It scared my parents enough to take me to Norton Children’s hospital ER. And thank God they did, when I arrived at the hospital it was too late for doctors to perform a breathing treatment on me, so I was put into a medically induced coma. Then the doctors would put me on a ventilator which would trigger my already inflamed heart to go into heart failure and cause me to flatline. The doctors and nurses on call that night had to perform CPR on me for three and a half minutes before I finally started to show signs of life again. I was soon put on ECMO life support. During this time no one knew if I would make it or not. I was diagnosed with acute viral myocarditis. The doctors told my parents that I shouldn’t be alive and that it’s a miracle. I was taken off of ECMO after one week and off of the ventilator after two. When I was taken off of ECMO the doctors and nurses slowly started to wean me off of the sedation to try and get me to wake up. I remember being scared and claustrophobic because of the restraints that were on my arms to keep me from pulling the ventilator out of my throat. Eventually I was fully awake and aware of my surroundings, no one told me what had happened to me. At that time all I knew was that I was extremely ill and in pain. The one thing that kept me going was my family and the great desire I had to be home. For me, the greatest hardship of that awful event was the recovery. Since I was immobilized for almost two weeks I could barely sit up in bed. I remember the first time I sat up I screamed in pain, but I did it, I sat up. Unfortunately, I had also developed a blood clot in my right inguinal, which is basically my right leg but close to the pelvis. It was caused by the ECMO life support and being immobilized for so long. It caused some pain for me during physical therapy but it was bearable and eventually with treatment went away. After about three weeks or so in the hospital I was discharged and sent to Frazier rehabilitation center. Frazier rehab was probably the hardest part of the recovery process. I just wanted to be home, I wasn’t happy at all. The people around me such as my family, friends, and the amazing staff kept my spirits up and encouraged me to keep fighting, and I did. It wasn’t easy but I was determined to go home, so I endured all of the physical therapy and did everything the doctors wanted me to do. Then I luckily was able to go home. I of course had to do outpatient physical and occupational therapy, but I was home and that was all I wanted. Many people would love to forget about an event like this. But I don’t, it keeps me determined to fight for what I want and what I believe in. Without this event I probably wouldn’t be as close to God as I am today, God saved me that day, letting me grow into the person I am today. I grew confidence within myself, knowing that if I could survive heart failure then I could overcome anything. So I am thankful for that day, without it I would never be as driven to overcome obstacles in my life.

The greatest challenge I have ever faced in my life, was overcoming heart failure. In 2017, I almost died from acute viral myocarditis. I flatlined for 3 1/2 minutes, the doctors had to perform cpr on me. Once my heart was beating again I was placed under life support, I already had a ventilator as well. Once I was stable enough to be taken off of the life support and the ventilator I was discharged from Norton Children's hospital and sent to Frazier Rehabilitation center to focus on gaining back my physical strength. I would be lying if I said that the recovery process was easy, but I got through it and I am stronger because of it. I overcame this challenge by staying strong! This was an extremely rough time in my life, but staying strong, believing in God, and trusting the medical staff at Norton Children's hospital allowed me to recover and become the person that I am today. I learned that to overcome medical challenges I need to stay strong and positive. As a Christian this experience has changed me as well, knowing that God is real, and that he helps and heals those who need it. This experience also gave me confidence in my self. Knowing that if I can survive. heart failure then I can survive just about anything! With this scholarship money, I can get the education I need to join the medical field and to be able to help others and hopefully help them overcome challenges like I did.