Meet Fun Loving Meghan
The fall of 1991 I came into the world, a healthy 8 pound 12 ounce baby girl. I was the first child of my parents, Patty and Rick Roswick and they couldn't have been more thrilled with my arrival. Everything seemed to be going great as they took me home and welcomed me into world. At 7 days old my mother noticed that I was breathing funny and immediately called my grandmot...her who said to take me to the doctors immediately. My mother rushed me to the local hospital where they took one look at me and told her that they did not like the look of me and whisked me away. With living in a small town, they were not equipped with what they needed to diagnose me so I was taken to another hospital about an hour away. I was diagnosed with Hypo-plastic Left Heart Syndrome in Bighamton, New York yet my parents wanted a second opinion and I was transferred again to another hospital a couple hours away in Syracuse, New York. The diagnosis was confirmed in Syracuse and my parents were faced with three choices of action. The three choices the doctors gave were a heart transplant, compassionate care, or an experimental three step procedure called, the Norwood procedure. Doctors urged my parents to go the route of compassionate care because I would never live a normal life let alone be able to walk a block without oxygen and if it had been their child they would ultimately proceed with compassionate care. Doctors had also told my parents that they hadn't heard of anyone doing well with the Norwood and would not suggest it. Through a lot of discussions and prayer my parents chose to go to Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and have me undergo the Norwood procedure. I was flown directly to CHOP and underwent my first surgery a few days later at 11 days old by Dr. Marshall Jacobs. I went through the first procedure perfectly and proceeded onto the second stage at 7 months old and then finally the Fontan at 13 months. Aside from fighting pleural effusions for 2 1/2 months following the fontan, all three precedures were completed with minimal issues. My parents had thought they were done with having to watch me undergo surgery, but around the age of 2 1/2 my mom took me to the doctors for what she thought was a cough but was actually congestive heart failure. I was rushed to CHOP where I underwent a fourth surgery to open my ASD.
By the age of 3 1/2 I was as healthy as I could be and started regularly going to the dance studio that my mom worked at. Every time I was there I would always asked her if I could go to where the mats were and do flips. After persistently asking her to let me flip around on mats she signed me up for a gymnastics class and I fell in love. My parents stayed in close contact with my surgeon to make sure that everything I was doing was okay. He had told them that I would set my own limitations and to let me do whatever I wanted to do. From there on out, my life revolved around gymnastics and pushing the limits of everything I did.
By the age of 7, I was training 20 hours per week in the gym . Some days I was even in the gym twice, for morning workouts and afternoon workouts. I continued with gymnastics until I was 16 and got too injured to continue. I had multiple fractures in both my shins and if I were to continue at the level I was at, I would need surgery on a few different injuries on my body. It was devastating to me, to have what I felt was everything taken away. I then turned to high school sports because I was very competitive and needed to be involved in something else. I took on high school varsity soccer, winter ski racing and track. Nothing ever compared to gymnastics but my body just couldn't handle it anymore.
Now, I am 21 and a junior at University of Cincinnati. I am studying Biomedical genetics. I have had zero problems with my heart and am just on a baby aspirin every day. I do not have a pace maker and just go to the doctors for yearly check ups. However, when I do get sick I usually end up at the doctors quicker than any one else would. I have no clue what the future holds and it scares the crap out of me sometimes because I live such a normal life that my heart feels like something my parents made up when I was younger. But dont get me wrong, it really can be scary being one of the oldest and feeling almost like a lab rat because no one knows what is going to happen. I just take it year by year and so far everything has been perfect. I look forward to having a family- which the doctors told me that I am allowed to have kids!! I am ready to get done with school and start the rest of my life :)
By the age of 3 1/2 I was as healthy as I could be and started regularly going to the dance studio that my mom worked at. Every time I was there I would always asked her if I could go to where the mats were and do flips. After persistently asking her to let me flip around on mats she signed me up for a gymnastics class and I fell in love. My parents stayed in close contact with my surgeon to make sure that everything I was doing was okay. He had told them that I would set my own limitations and to let me do whatever I wanted to do. From there on out, my life revolved around gymnastics and pushing the limits of everything I did.
By the age of 7, I was training 20 hours per week in the gym . Some days I was even in the gym twice, for morning workouts and afternoon workouts. I continued with gymnastics until I was 16 and got too injured to continue. I had multiple fractures in both my shins and if I were to continue at the level I was at, I would need surgery on a few different injuries on my body. It was devastating to me, to have what I felt was everything taken away. I then turned to high school sports because I was very competitive and needed to be involved in something else. I took on high school varsity soccer, winter ski racing and track. Nothing ever compared to gymnastics but my body just couldn't handle it anymore.
Now, I am 21 and a junior at University of Cincinnati. I am studying Biomedical genetics. I have had zero problems with my heart and am just on a baby aspirin every day. I do not have a pace maker and just go to the doctors for yearly check ups. However, when I do get sick I usually end up at the doctors quicker than any one else would. I have no clue what the future holds and it scares the crap out of me sometimes because I live such a normal life that my heart feels like something my parents made up when I was younger. But dont get me wrong, it really can be scary being one of the oldest and feeling almost like a lab rat because no one knows what is going to happen. I just take it year by year and so far everything has been perfect. I look forward to having a family- which the doctors told me that I am allowed to have kids!! I am ready to get done with school and start the rest of my life :)
Follow Meghan at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Meghan-Roswick-HLHS/175236095914052
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