Kindergarten should be a place for fun and getting into the rhythm of education, but that wasn't the case for me. Getting diagnosed with heart disease at such a young age can be terrifying. Unfortunately, I had felt it first hand and did not understand that my heart was not like anyone else's. It almost became normal that my heart was beating over two hundred beats per minute and I had started to accept the fact that I was not normal.

Being diagnosed with Supraventricular Tachycardia was one thing, but having to deal with wearing a heart monitor and the side effects was another. Not only did I have a hole in my heart, but I felt as if I had a hole in my life too because I was missing out on a normal life. Instead of having play dates with my friends, I was having play dates with the hospital.

At age 5, the doctor told my family and me that I needed to have heart surgery in order to fix the problem. I was then in the waiting room feeling my stomach twist with nervousness as I headed into surgery. I could hear my mom crying as I looked ahead to the bright lights, squeezing tightly onto my dad's hand. I didn't want to go through with the surgery but I knew it would fix me, so I continued on.

Waking up, I saw more tubes attached to my body than I could count with my fingers. One contained fluids, another to check my pulse, another to inject mysterious liquids into me. I didn't feel human. I asked the nurse why my body isn't in a lot of pain and she reassured me that I was on a lot of medication.

Going home felt odd. I was bedridden and constantly in pain, yet I couldn't feel my heart anymore. I felt normal, a feeling that was scarcely there. After weeks of recovery, I was doing much better and could finally experience a normal childhood. No more heart monitor, no more medical tests, no more medication, I thought the pain was all over. But unfortunately for me, a new heart conditioned had arrived as I hit my teens. The heart monitor, also known as my worst enemy, came back freshman and sophomore year of high school and then freshman year of college. More beeping, more embarrassment, more chords; I was over the fact that my heart wasn't normal. It was harder to have a heart monitor as a teenager because my insecurities were high and having this contraption attached to me made me feel even worse about my body.

I was often confused because I was experiencing a different kind of pain in my chest and the doctors had no answers. This time instead of having heart palpitations, it was pain. The chest pain came randomly, at any time and any place. I would often have to leave what I was doing due to the fact that the pain was unbearable. I thought to myself "Why isn't this over? This is not fair." I often questioned if the heart surgery and the scars were legitimately worth it, considering I am still in pain every single day.

The more doctor visits I had, the more I started to hate them. The hospital was starting to feel like a second home and even though I had started to mend a friendship with my cardiologists, I now envied them because they found no cure for me. Taking ibuprofen three times a day, having to rest often because I was feeling sick, and taking prescribed medications such as steroids is the worst part. I had to take something in order for the pain to go away and I became aggravated by the fact that I wasn't healthy.

Now that I am older, I have learned that being different was just what I needed. I can now take on the world with anything and everything I have because of the strength I have gained throughout my heart disease.

Ever since I was born, I have always been "sick." Whether it be my heart palpitations, my ongoing chest pains, or feeling off on the daily, I never felt quite like myself. Although this may scare me, I am more than ready to take on heart disease and defeat it with all of the might I can give. Dealing with a heart issue is definitely not what I would ever want, but as I grow older, I realize I wouldn't be as strong without it. Heart disease has made me who I am and even though I sometimes wish I didn't have it, I would never take back the experience because I can now say I am one of the strongest woman I know because of it.