Anna – Age 8 – Belize

At birth, Anna was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), a serious congenital heart condition comprised of four defects that affect the structure of the heart causing oxygen-poor blood to flow out of the heart and rest of the body. The young Mennonite and her mother arrived in Houston where the sweet, funny, smart young lady was completely wowed by escalators. Luckily, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital had a bunch of them, which Anna rode up and down all day to her first doctor visits. Her preoperative studies and open-heart surgery were successful thanks to cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Jorge Salazar and the team. Less than a month later, Anna returned home to reunite with her 13 siblings!