BELLA VISTA, Ark. — Just a week before the NFL Draft, healthcare company Abbott is putting together a different kind of team alongside Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin, Former Arizona Wildcats Linebacker Tedy Bruschi, and Bella Vista 17-year-old MacKenzie Maddry.
The Abbott Heartmates Draft Day is bringing together a group of 11 people who have experienced serious heart conditions, to bring support to others.
MacKenzie was 14 when she was diagnosed with cancer.
A few years after that, she was back in the hospital with chemo-induced heart failure and sat in a Little Rock hospital for over three months before becoming the first pediatric patient to be released using an LVAD, a device that helps support the heart.
She was the first pediatric patient to be released from the hospital with the device
"I'm just so grateful the LVAD has gotten me to my 17th birthday, they said I might not get [there] ... It's been a long road," MacKenzie said.
MacKenzie is currently hoping to get back on the heart transplant list after a leg surgery bumped her off.
She hopes to become a nurse in the future; "I think pediatric nurses are so important, I've seen the way they work and their empathy, it's inspiring."
A former track runner and soccer player, Mackenzie picked up the ukelele during her time in the hospital, using her experience with the viola as a springboard.
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