❤️ When Ann Louise Atherton stepped into a Hominy Valley Elementary School classroom to give a presentation about the human heart, each valve and vein on the diagram reflected her personal story of beating the odds. The former Hominy Valley student was back in her old school, this time as a teacher.
Ann Louise, a Martin L. Nesbitt, Jr. Discovery Academy (NDA) senior, was born with severe heart defects that put her life in jeopardy. She had her first surgery at 22 weeks in-utero, becoming one of the first girls in the world to undergo fetal heart surgery. Her parents were told she might not make it to kindergarten, or that she might need a heart transplant by age 5. She’s had four additional heart surgeries since then.
Those early struggles bred a resilience and future focus that shows up in everything she does. Atherton is the treasurer of HOSA, a school club for future medical professionals; a member of the National Honor Society; and a senior representative on the NDA Student Council. She is dual-enrolled at A-B Tech, and she co-founded the Hope for Healthcare club, which sends care packages to children with serious illnesses and appreciation letters to the hospitals and people who work tirelessly to treat them.
“Being able to continue on with life is a form of resilience,” she said. “I could just give up and soak in the trauma, but I think it’s important to both process it and also do activities that make you happy- to prove that the trauma isn’t holding you back.”
Earlier this year, Ann Louise’s mother, Mary, asked if she would give a talk to Hominy Valley fourth graders as part of their learning unit about the human heart.
“Because I’ve done so much research, it made it easier for me to teach it to others,” Ann Louise said. “Going into it, I didn’t know how much knowledge the kids had, so I had to relate things to what they already understand, like telling them I’m basically Iron Man because of my mechanical valve. I tried to explain everything in the simplest terms possible and kept asking if they needed more explanations.”
Her personal journey deeply resonated with the fourth graders. A few who had medical issues came to talk to her after her presentation.
“One girl hadn’t told anyone at school about her heart condition,” Ann Louise said. “It felt good to help her feel comfortable opening up.”
That moment connected to a philosophy she has developed over many years, many doctors, and many hospital beds: children deserve to be included in conversations about their own health.
“I want to see the patient more as a person than just their chart or their history, because that’s what I wish would happen for me,” she said. “I’m pretty set on doing something with children because I feel like I can really connect with kids and sympathize with them more.”
Ann Louise wants to work in pediatrics or pediatric research, possibly at Boston Children’s Hospital, to give back to the hospital that helped save her life. Wherever she goes next, she plans to keep doing exactly what she did at Hominy Valley- turning her story into hope and courage for others.
