Two Heart Transplants and Three Birthdays Later, Mya is Thriving

After undergoing two heart transplants before she was 4 years old, 13-year-old Mya Garcia (above with her brother Marcel) is thriving today.
Mya Garcia, 13, has three birthdays. The first one celebrates the day she came into the world. The other two commemorate the days she was brought back to life.
When she turns 18 years old, her mother, Jamie Gonzalez, has a special gift for her miraculous daughter – a heartfelt letter to honor a day she was worried may never come. It’s a letter she’s been holding onto since her daughter was just 4 years old. She wrote it after Mya received the ultimate gift – a second heart; a third chance at life.
“I wrote her a letter to open when she turns 18 that shares in detail everything she went through after she was born, so she truly knows how hard she had to fight for her life,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t ever want her to take her precious life for granted.”
In 2006, three weeks before Mya was due to be born, an ultrasound revealed she had a serious congenital heart defect and her heart rate was dropping rapidly. Gonzalez was induced, and soon after Mya arrived, she was transferred to Seattle Children’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
“It was awful and traumatic,” Gonzalez said. “I just remember holding her tiny little hand hoping everything would be ok.” Read full post »