A few days after Mindy Beyer was born, doctors delivered crushing news to her parents: You'll be lucky if your baby lives until age 3. Mindy was born with a variety of heart problems. Her ventricles were reversed and there was a hole between them, making it difficult for her heart to efficiently pump blood.
At 1 month old, Mindy underwent surgery to move an artery from her arm to her heart to help improve blood flow. The surgery was a success. For the next couple of years at home in New Hampshire, Mindy had regular appointments to monitor her heart.
She made it to age 3. And then 4. Doctors warned that when Mindy started school, she might be too weak to last a full day.
She would never play sports, they added. Mindy did both. In middle school, she played field hockey.
At 12, she had her first open-heart surgery. It closed the hole in her heart and improved blood flow to her lungs. The night after surgery, Mindy crossed paths with a mother in the hospital nursery whose baby had been born with a congenital heart defect.
As they spoke, a look of hope passed over the woman's face as she learned that Mindy had defied the odds given to her at birth. Mindy came away from that conversation wanting to pursue a career helping people with heart conditions like her own. In high school, Mindy kept up with sports, playing volleyball.
She told anyone who would listen that she wanted to be an echocardiogram technician at Boston Children's Hospital. An echocardiogram, or ultrasound of the hea.