The author, Virsaviya Borʼnn Goncharova, is from Russia but now lives in the United States. She was born 11 years ago with a very rare illness, and she still has to deal with it.
Because of this, Virsaviya was diagnosed with Cantrell’s pentalogy while she was still in her mother’s belly. In other words, the heart grows outside the chest. This is a highly uncommon birth defect; only 1 in 100,000 people are born with it.
Dari, Virsaviya’s mother, was very sad when she learned about her child’s mental growth. The couple still chose to have a child, though.
They told me that my daughter would probably die while I was pregnant or while I was giving birth. I can only say that Virsaviya is truly a gift because of what I see happening right now. I love her very much. I like Virsaviya a lot. “One of the one million most unique people in the world,” Dari said.
Virsaviya is 11 years old this year, and she is still living a happy, hopeful life with her great heart. Virsaviya’s parents took her to see doctors in 2015 so that she could have surgery. They did this so that their daughter could live a normal life.
But this wasn’t possible because of how high blood pressure hurts the arteries in the legs. Virsaviya had to stay in the hospital for a long time after that because of her health.
At the moment, she needs to use an oxygen generator every time she works out. Virsaviya also has to be very careful when she’s having f²n with friends, since her heart is right under her skin and even a small bump could hurt it.