Freshman Marissa Konrad has been through a lot, starting out with being a premature baby to then discovering that she was born with two holes in her heart.  Although life has thrown her a difficult body to handle, Konrad has taken her challenges and has made the most of them with a smile on her face everywhere she goes.
   On July 20th, 1997 Konrad was born a month early, weighing 3lb and15oz with two holes in her heart.  Because Konrad was premature, she was still healing in the hospital a month later.  Then, it was to the doctor’s surprise that they discovered she had two openings in her heart; due to its severity they decided to look more into this issue.
   “The doctors said if there is one problem, there are usually three [altogether] so they looked into it” Konrad said.
   After carefully observing Konrad’s newborn body, doctors discovered that she also had two toes that are stuck together and that the whole left side of her body is smaller than the right.  With these serious discoveries, her life was changed.
   A short time after turning one Konrad had her first open heart surgery in Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh where she received a prosthetic mitral valve in her heart.  Now, with scars running from her side to her back she gets short of breath when doing certain kinds of physical activities and experiences pain when she grows due to the scars stretching. 
   “My condition holds me back from playing outside with my brother because I get out of breath and have to stop,” Konrad said.  “Unfortunately he makes me keep going.” 
   Not only do Konrad’s conditions keep her from playing any sports or participating in gym class, but they also cause her to have some other concerns. Every night she must take a blood thinner medicine called Coumadin, has certain dental issues and has to take precaution with certain antibiotics to ensure that her heart is safe.  Also, due to the blood thinner, whenever Konrad is cut she must make sure that she applies more pressure than someone else would to stop the bleeding.
  “I can’t do gym, but in the long run [it] isn’t so bad because I never liked running and I don’t want to do sports,” Konrad said.
   Gym isn’t the only part of school that is affected though.  Konrad misses more school than others since she tends to have a lot of doctors visits for growth and heart checkups. Shoes are also a big issue for her.  Konrad has to buy special shoes that have a thick platform beneath the left one since that leg and side of her body is smaller which she hates since shoes are a teenage girls best friend. 
   “On the plus side, I know every nurse in the blood lab,” Konrad said.  “I even got Christmas gifts from them.”
   Now, in high school with people she has known since she was little, several are aware of Konrad and her conditions.  But during her younger years living with her condition wasn’t always as easy as she now makes it out to be.  She was picked on and made fun of a lot solely because others didn’t understand her conditions or that she was just the same as everyone else.
   “I got made fun of in school a lot so I always asked my mom why it happened,” Konrad said.  “They would say mean things like I had a whole different heart, and a girl actually hit me once because I was different which left a really bad bruise.”
   At the time of Konrad’s second open heart surgery she was taking on yet another big obstacle, especially being a toddler.  Since her body was growing quickly, as most toddlers do, it was time for a new valve for her heart.  Everything with the surgery went well, but the healing process was long and left her in the hospital for three months.  Konrad doesn’t recall much of this surgery except for being in the hospital for a while and a funny Popsicle story that her mother told her.
   “Apparently I woke up and immediately asked all of the nurses and my mother for a Popsicle out of the blue,” Konrad said.  “Everyone started laughing because of how young I was and the fact that I just woke up from having a major surgery asking for food.”
   Her next surgery was scheduled for Tuesday, January 8th at the same hospital but with a different doctor since the one from the previous two retired.  This time she will most likely be out of school for most of January so she can heal.  Konrad must have this third open heart surgery since she is growing and the prosthetic mitral valve no longer fits her body.  She is apprehensive for this surgery but expects that it will give her more energy.
   “I’m afraid of how it’s going to go and I’m hoping nothing goes wrong,” Konrad said.  “My mom is also working on getting blood donations for me just in case anything was to happen and for in the future.”
   With Konrad being so young the hospital does make the preparations for her surgeries more comforting than they would for adults.  For example, the hospital schedules her for doctor and child care meetings with the people she will be spending time with during her surgeries.
   “They help you get settled in and get your mind off of the surgery and situation,” Konrad said.
   Although Konrad lives with her condition every day, having to take several precautions whether it’s ensuring she doesn’t cut her skin on accident or allowing herself a break if she gets out of breath, she still loves her life and would never take anything for granted.  She understands that she is just like all of the other kids but stronger, because she has so much more to fight for.
   “If I had the chance to take my condition away I wouldn’t because then I wouldn’t have gotten to meet everyone I did at the hospital or to tell people how it is to be disabled,” Konrad said.  “Even after all the times I wished I didn’t have it I wouldn’t want to take it all away.”