Fourteen-year-old volleyball player Delilah Mendez is recovering after an undiagnosed heart condition led to emergency surgery and the amputation of part of her left leg. (Foto: Instagram)
Delilah Mendez, a 14-year-old volleyball player, fainted during practice in Arizona after an undiagnosed heart condition caused a medical emergency. She spent 60 days in the hospital, underwent heart surgery and had part of her left leg amputated.
“I couldn’t breathe, and at the same time I felt dizzy,” Mendez told local media. Her mother, Rosie Mendez, said her daughter briefly had no pulse after collapsing. Doctors later told the family that Mendez had a pre-existing heart problem they had not known about.
Mendez was rushed to a local hospital and then flown to another facility in Phoenix. There, she was connected to a machine that circulates blood outside the body to keep her alive. Doctors identified a congenital heart condition and took her into surgery.
While recovering from the operation, Mendez developed blood clots and circulation problems that led to the loss of part of her leg. After leaving the hospital, she said she was determined to return to volleyball. She hopes to earn a college scholarship to play and is working toward walking with a prosthesis.
“It will be very difficult, but I think I can get through it,” Mendez said. “I want to get through this, learn to walk again with a prosthesis and do everything I used to do.”
