Open Heart Surgery

February 17, 1994 my parents were blessed with (as my father would say) miracle identical twin girls. For as long as my father can remember he prayed that he and my mother would be blessed with twins. After many “unanswered” prayers my parents got the news that they were going to have twins! Nonetheless this blessing did not come easily my sister and I were born about six weeks premature.
After my the birth the doctors delivered devastating news to my parents. They announced that I their youngest daughter had an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD). This meant that there is a hole in the wall between the two upper chambers of your heart (atria). The doctors were sure that the only way to fix this was open heart surgery. Nonetheless, my father and mother …show more content…
Had my parents not questioned the doctors regarding my defect I would have had open heart surgery as a new born. Growing up in a family who has these values has given me the ability to grow in multiple aspects of my life. Aside from being premature and have an ASD I also was diagnosed with a specific learning disability. A specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations. After, receiving this news my parents were committed that this learning disability would not hindered my performance regarding my academics. They continued to instill a sense of perseverance in me. In the years proceeding my diagnoses with this disability I have had multiple educators and friends discourage me regarding my academic performance. One memory has stuck with me regarding an educator who grew impatient with my learning disability and asked me to the leave the room because I was not understanding the material “fast”