Mary Myers: “I was diagnosed when I was three months old with ALCAPA, one of the rarest forms of heart defects. Doctors thought I wouldn’t make it. I am turning eight on March 10. My bracelet says  ‘powerful’. I am strong. I am brave. I can do hard things.”

Ashley: “We knew something was wrong with Mary Myers after her two-month checkup. She was more fussy. Had a double-ear infection and stopped growing. That was weird. She was admitted to Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile for lack of food intake. Her daddy was holding her in the hospital when she stopped breathing. A nurse ran over, hitting the alarm button. It seems twenty people came flying in, like in a movie. Chest compressions didn’t work. I was standing in the corner watching it happen. It was insane. Then someone took us to a waiting room. A few hours later, they told us she was stable in the PICU. ‘Is she going to live?’ was my first question. They couldn’t tell us.

Her heart was the problem. And she had to go to Birmingham for the care she needed. About four AM, the hospital said this was the time if we wanted Mary Myers baptized. We called a priest. Right after the baptism, the Life Flight team flew her to Birmingham. My husband and I had a horrible ride from Mobile to Birmingham.”

Mary Myers: “I made it much faster than they did.”

Ashley: “Mary Myers was diagnosed with ALCAPA–anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery. That means one of her arteries was connected to the wrong place, pumping deoxygenated blood into the left ventricle. Her heart was pumping the wrong blood. ALCAPA is rare and can’t be detected in utero.

Her first surgery was a few days later. A nurse practitioner told me she looks bad now, but it’s going to be even worse when she comes out of surgery. It was. I had no idea what we were dealing with. Over a few days, I went from thinking my daughter had a stomach issue to praying she would live. The medical team made their rounds twice a day, telling us what was going on. It went in one ear and out the other; my brain was foggy and couldn’t function. I wrote everything in a journal.”

Mary Myers: “That reminds me of Taylor Swift. She writes everything down.”

Ashley: “Mary Myers came out of surgery with an open sternum and on ECMO–life support. Her numbers were improving after twenty-four hours. The doctors took her off ECMO, closing her chest. A few hours later, she had her second cardiac arrest. The surgery didn’t take. Her heart was even more rare than the typical ALCAPA patient. She was put back ECMO through her neck. About two in the morning, the doctors said they were doing everything they could, but we should call in our family. We took over the family room, and a chaplain came in to talk with us. One doctor was about to retire and told us Mary Myers was one of the sickest patients he had seen; she wasn’t going to make it. I said we were praying for a miracle.

Mary Myers was on life support for a week, but she kept fighting. Her blood started flowing through the coronary collaterals. Not ideal, but it works for her. She was moved into a new room with a big bed on the other side of the ICU, sharing a nurse with another child: all signs that she was getting better. It was the Fourth of July. We watched the fireworks from the Birmingham Barons baseball game out of our window.  We also celebrated Mary Myers’ four-month birthday with cupcakes and putting a dress on her. We spent 37 days in the hospital. We left for home wearing the Mary Myers Strong t-shirts my best friends sold to help pay our medical bills. Mary Myers came home with 13 medicines to take four times a day. We set the alarms and made a new schedule.

I teach first grade. I love kids and chaos. I took off from teaching for six months because it was a full-time job just keeping up with the medicines and feedings. I had serious PTSD and still get high anxiety going to her appointments or heading up to Birmingham; that gets better over time. I go to a counselor to help me through this.”

Mary Myers: “Now, I’m a typical seven-year-old girl. I love to read and was asked to test for the gifted program. Dancing is my favorite thing. I always twirl around the house. I started taking dance lessons when I was three and now take dance classes three days a week. I learned how to do a back walkover. I practiced in our den every night until I could do it.

Our school class motto is SHINE: service, honesty, imagination, never give up, and excellence. We were having a SHINE assembly in November about Never Give up. Magic Moments came into the gym with a surprise–they were sending me to New York City to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade and the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. The Mayor of Spanish Fort was also there, saying it was Mary Myers Day. Two weeks later, my family went to New York. After the Christmas Spectacular, a bodyguard met us, taking me to a surprise dance lesson with two Rockettes.

I also rode with Magic Moments in a Mardi Gras parade this year. I threw some things, but kept some, too. It was so much fun. After the parade I asked Mama if there was a parade tomorrow that I could ride in. I want to do it again next year.

I am the first national ambassador from Alabama for the National Heart Association. I like spreading the word about heart heroes; I’m here today because of their research and surgeries. One day, I want to do something medical to help other kids.”

Ashley: “I’m still amazed that I get to wake up every day with this special girl. Now, we’re a family with four kids. Our family motto is ‘we can do hard things’.”

Mary Myers: “That doctor was clearly wrong about me not making it. I’m still here, and I will never give up.”

(The first photo is Mary Myers on the Mardi Gras Float. The hospital pictures are from Ashley.)