CHICAGO (WLS) – With heart-shaped balloons in hand and greeted with joyous applause from teachers and students at a Chicago elementary school, Josie Navarez started first grade on Tuesday.
The 6-year-old was born with one heart chamber and has courageously lived with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.
For the peers at Peck Elementary School who chanted her name, much like for Josie’s mother, it was hard to hold back tears.
“More than I expected. I knew I was going to walk away crying,” Jacqueline Martinez, Josie’s mother, said.
After years of various treatments and months of waiting for a donor, Josie underwent a successful heart transplant in July.
“She cried and prayed. Every week, she kept asking for her new heart and she’s like, ‘I don’t want to die here like my other friends,’ so we never knew she was going to walk into school,” Martinez said.
Through it all, Josie’s classmates never stopped supporting her.
“They wrote her letters. They encouraged her. Some even visited her when she was in the hospital,” Dr. Candice Muhammad, Peck Elementary School’s assistant principal, said.
Her welcoming classmates and teachers dressed in red to endorse heart health. The day was also complete with dance parties and Josie’s favorite songs.
“When the community comes together, we can truly make a difference,” Muhammad added.
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