SWANTON, Ohio — February is American Heart Month. Swanton High School student Mackenzie Lake shared her story of defying all the odds...
Lake's journey started just days after being born.
"I was born with a congenital heart defect called tetralogy of Fallot and it's been a wild ride," Lake said.
She was six months old and needed open-heart surgery. It was the first of seven surgeries she's had so far with the most recent in 2020.
Her parents found their daughter's diagnosis heartbreaking, but they knew she would grow up the same as everyone else--they would make sure of it.
"We were told when she was six months old that she'd never be an athlete. But she is an athlete. She dances, she plays clarinet. I put her in stuff when she was three. I didn't hold her down and I listened to her," Mackenzie's mother, Sherry Lake said.
Congenital heart defects come in all different forms, but Mackenzie's doctor says she's one of the lucky ones.
"She was actually on, what we would say, the excellent part of the spectrum in that she had a pulmonary valve but it was small. So they had to open it up and make it larger but at least it was present," ProMedica Cardiologist, Dr. Claudeen Whitfield said.
It's been a bumpy ride, but Mackenzie's father is thankful for all the doctors and how far science and the medical field have come.
"We've always put our faith in that and we know they're going to do their best. She is who she is. She's been dancing since she was three years old and you can't stop her," Chris Lake said.
The doctors say Mackenzie will need more surgeries down the road, but right now she's enjoying what she's accomplished and wants others who are in her position to know they can get through it too.
"If you really persevere and you try, you can do what you want. You can live the life that you want. You don't have to be stuck to being a heart patient. It can be a part of your personality or identity, but not the whole thing," Mackenzie Lake said.
Lake also plans to go to college and become a clinical psychologist.
She says mental health is so important to her and she wants to continue to raise awareness about it.