Fourth Grader Enjoying Life After Heart Transplant

• Alexandria Hill, a 9-year-old 4th grader born with a muscular disorder, also had a damaged heart, she underwent transplant Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit and is enjoying life.
  
  She is cheerful and wants to learn to swim. She wants to run and dance. She wants to grow as tall has her friends, with a new heart beating in her chest. She was scurrying around her Plymouth home and working with a fourth-grade classmate on their project for the upcoming Our Lady of Good Counsel science fair. Their project is about heart health!
  
  She also has dreams of doing things that she couldn't do. Playing soccer and other sports.
  
  She also wants to grow a foot and gain 30 pounds to catch up with her friend and science project partner, Emily Sartorius, also 9.
  
  Andri was placed on a waiting list for a heart transplant in August and was operated in December.
  
  The muscular disorder has required Andri to undergo numerous surgeries since infancy. Her heart deterioration was discovered when she was 9 months old. A metal rod was surgically implanted beside her spine in 2004, and she wears a back brace. Occasional minor surgeries are needed to extend the rod as she grows. Because of her heart condition, Andri is small for her age.
  
  Now, with suddenly increased circulation, the girl feels more vigor and has gained weight since her arrival home.