At 16, Jeannie Forton might seem like any other teenager you’d run into among a group of laughing girls in the hallways of Petoskey High School or sitting down at her favorite café, Roast & Toast.

Her kind eyes and easy smile resemble those of a girl who has no worries in the world, who has only ever been concerned with running cross-country, spending time with friends, and homework. Jeannie is, in fact, one of those girls with joy bubbling up in her expression, who is concentrated on qualifying for track and leading Challenge, a virtues-based program for children in grades 5 to 9. But Jeannie is anything but ordinary.

Jeannie entered her teens as an active cross-country runner with an affinity for art and hanging out with her friends. And then, Jeannie says, she had a funny pain in her chest while running at a cross-county practice just before the first Charlevoix meet in the fall of 2008. The pain was reminiscent of some symptoms she had learned about while babysitting last summer for a Harbor Springs family facing a congenital heart defect. Jeannie was concerned and asked that her family physician, Dr. Michael Bacon, refer her to see a cardiologist.

On a Thursday in October, Bacon’s partner, Dr. Marcin Jankowski, made the referral. Michelle wanted to talk to the cardiologist her dad, Joseph LeBlanc, saw and trusted. She right away set up an appointment with Andrew Teklinski, MD, of Cardiology Consultants in Petoskey. Dr. Teklinski scheduled an echocardiogram to examine for any potential heart problems. Upon examination of the study, Dr. Teklinski saw evidence of a bicuspid aortic valve, aortic insufficiency and dilation of the ascending aorta. In layman’s terms, the major artery leading out of Jeannie’s heart was enlarged, and the valve separating the aorta and left ventricle was malformed. This malformation resulted in a severe leakage of blood from the aorta back into the left ventricle. Left untreated, the natural course would likely be fatal within months to a few years. The only cure is through surgery.

Dr. Teklinski informed Jeannie and her mother of the diagnosis and provided his recommendations.

“Dr. Teklinski recommended that we see Dr. Brad Vazales for his opinion,” recounts Jeannie’s mother. “A number of people in the community urged me to find a pediatric specialist out of town, say at the Mayo Clinic, DeVoss Children’s Hospital or Toronto Hospital for Sick Children”

Thinking of her family first, nine siblings in all, including a little brother with Type I Diabetes, Jeannie insisted on staying close to home.

“My dad adores and raves about Dr. Teklinski, so I decided to trust his recommendation,” said Michelle.

Within a week, Dr. Brad Vazales, a cardiac and thoracic surgeon of Great Lakes Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery, was able to thoroughly assess Jeannie’s situation.

“There was a risk of heart failure,” Jeannie says. “Had this gone undiagnosed, later in life, while giving birth to my child or something, I could have died.”

Jeannie sees divine intervention throughout her personal story. The surgery was anything but simple. Jeannie’s surgeon, Dr. Vazales, put her on a bypass machine and using the Ross Procedure, replaced her aortic valve with her pulmonic valve. The pulmonic valve was then replaced with a donor valve.

Jeannie reflects on the day in November she was wheeled into surgery with a deep breath and the maturity of a young woman growing up. This 16-year old describes major surgery on a precious and fragile organ as “amazing” to have “a piece of a generous donor inside me,” and in the early days of recovery announces she is grateful for “the small things like climbing the stairs and performing normal activities without losing my breath.” It is a reminder that it is a child fighting her way to be strong, healthy, typical and mostly, herself.

Jeannie’s dad, Larry, says that the surgery was an eye-opener for him.

“For the weeks leading up to the open-heart surgery it brought Jeannie a certain amount of attention. Then she had surgery and she had lots of focus. It was an affirmation that people in our community cared about her. But the greatest gift cannot be defined by surgery. She’s solid and her life is not just about her life. God healed her heart in more ways than one.”

“Academically, I am very focused on grades,” she says. “I really want to stay caught up. I have a teacher, Mrs. Jane Babcock, and she’s been visiting and working with me twice a week.” “I want to be a nurse,” Jeannie says tentatively, “I think it would be really cool to talk to kids and their parents and to be able to tell them that I know how they feel and I know what they are going through.”

Jeannie’s sense of humor and hopeful future doesn’t detract from the reality of her surgery and what lies ahead for her health.

“The surgery is a permanent deal. The surgery is a lifelong repair.” Jeannie’s dad says, “Her heart has been manipulated, tugged, cut and stitched. Sitting in the ICU, watching her heart beat steadily – we understand a lot, but not everything – and that she could recover so well from something so traumatic is remarkable.”

“I know God had a reason for choosing me to go through this and maybe it’s so I can give hope to other children younger than me in a position similar to mine, or maybe it’ll come into play later in life. In six short weeks, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned to understand the concepts of faith, hope, death, courage and most of all, love…In six weeks, I’ve been exposed to a whole new world, in a way. Life seems so much more precious than before and I’m glad I know that now instead of when I’m like 30 or something.”

On a Jeannie’s parent’s role in their child’s illness and treatment: It is normal and very human to want to protect, especially when you are a parent and it is your child. The truth is, we control very little. I choose not to have a life lived in fear, but rather a life lived in faith. There is peace in that for me. There’s freedom in that. On staying positive: “Hopes and prayers can be answered. We’re trusting that life is good and focusing day to day on the relationships we have. Once we got a diagnosis, we had to march into it with hope of the best possible outcome, with an outlook of optimism. Once the diagnosis was made, I remember Dr. Teklinski saying that we only had one option and that was open-heart surgery. It was devastating, but it wasn’t until later when talking to loved ones that I began to cry. There was only one option. We had to do it. It was really all about surrendering.

On relying on faith during the tough moments: This can be a strengthening experience. If you understand that you do the best you can and it is up to God to deal with the stuff we can’t handle. If you lean into your friends and family and the community, you can become a stronger person through this. We prayed for God to guide Dr. Vazales’ hands. The night before the surgery, Dr. Vazales called me to check in on me and let me know that we were in his thoughts. On cultivating dreams for your child: I dream of a life [for my daughter] of joy and faith. I want her to experience a life of making a difference. Jeannie has a full life expectancy.

On having the surgery done at Northern Michigan Regional Hospital: The compassion that Jim Gracy, Dr. Vazales and Dr. Teklinski showed was unbelievable. It was just overwhelming. It made me feel like Jeannie was the only person that existed at that time. I think God put these doctors into our lives. Had we gone anywhere else, I don’t believe my daughter would have received the same intensity of care. I thank all the excellent nurses in the ICU and CVU. They were awesome. Pediatrics got involved. They were sending us a TV, movies, and games—anything we wanted. Everybody reached out. I’m writing a letter to the Chief of Operations of the hospital tonight naming everyone of the nurses who cared for Jeannie and thanking them personally.