My name is Valeria. It's been 16 years since I was born and diagnosed with half a heart.

I'm surprised that I have lived for this long. I should have been dead at birth. Sometimes I actually wonder if I'm on this earth for a reason, like there's a soulful higher purpose for my existence. Am I special, a person to change the world, to accomplish something extraordinary? Or am I just a misunderstood nobody who spends time daydreaming about how life could really be? My heart, well what's left of it, beats doesn't it? It doesn't just pump blood and oxygen throughout my body. It gives me the strength and capability to move forward. To me, life is a gift. And I don't intend on wasting it.