The first day of my life,

They knew of my uniqueness,

My vulnerability,

My illness.

The hole in my chest, the dastardly abnormality,

Had set my coming years as harsh and unsettling.

The shortness of breath, chest tightening, and wheezing,

All were results of me attempting to be healthy.

The years rolled by, all filled with struggle,

Until the day I ran into trouble.

A ride home one day, behind the wheel,

It was my chest tightening that I could not feel.

I could not breath, I could not see.

My heart was racing as I was driving.

I made it home fortunately,

But there I was not safe.

For an hour more, my chest had ached.

Well, then it stopped,

My heart completely did.

For a minute I lay, thinking I was dead.

A doctor’s appointment the following day,

I was informed a heart attack had struck me.

A monitor for a month,

An aggravating feat,

Would give the doctor all the information he would need.

Time had passed,

And I turned seventeen.

Unbearable news, however, was in it for me.

Surgery, they said,

To fix the issue.

This subject was definitely in need of a tissue.

Two months later, fear boiling inside me,

My parents and I headed to the hospital at five in the morning.

Two hours later, anesthetic in my system,

The doctors began my operation.

When I finally came to,

My heart was no longer racing.

The thing that had plagued me,

Was gone from existence.

The thing I had feared,

The thing dreaded for years,

Was fortunately no more.

An easier life, for me, in store.

No matter how hard my childhood was,

My uniqueness was surely never unloved.