High stress and heart conditions don't seemingly go hand in hand, but to know Â鶹Çř News Producer Alisa Sample is to know she tends to buck the norm.
"They thought I'd be in the hospital for a week, and I was out in four days," she said.
That was her latest surgery.
Sample has had a ventricular septal defect, basically a hole in her heart, since birth. She also has coarctation of the aorta, which means part of her aorta is narrower than usual.
"For the most part, my parents were surprised when they found out my coarctation was as bad as it was, because they were like, 'She's not turning blue, she's not lethargic,'" Sample said.
She said she never gave signs of a heart defect, but it's required three surgeries.
"I had one when I was 2, one when I was 8 and one last year," she said.
She takes it all in stride, never letting her condition define who she is.
"I was only limited by sports. I focused instead on academics, and I loved it and I loved reading and pursuing those things and learning a little bit of everything," Sample said.
She encourages others to follow suit.
"Don't let this keep you from doing something you really want to do," she said. "You can modify anything."
Knowing congenital heart defects are genetic, it's a lesson she looks to instill in her own daughter.
"Evie does have a narrow pulmonary valve, but it's growing with her and they're not worried about it," she said.
If that changes, she's confident in the work spearheaded by the American Heart Association and in knowing her daughter will be able to thrive thanks to medical advancements.
"I'm a mom, I'm a daughter, I'm a wife, I'm a news producer and I'm a heart warrior," Sample said.
Â鶹Çř News Producer, Alisa Sample, is beating the odds, thriving after multiple heart surgeries for congenital heart defects.Â
Some of that technology is being developed here at home. Currently, the American Heart Association is funding 36 research awards in Alabama, totaling more than $9 million.
Just to show how far technology has come, Sample's 4-month-old nephew recently had surgery for coarctation of the aorta, like her. But, instead of a large scar on his back, doctors were able to make a small incision on his side to go in and make repairs.
