Teen's Leg Bump Turned Out to Be Cancer and Doctors Thought She Wouldn't Live to 17. Now She's a High School Grad (Exclusive)
MacKenzie Maddry was diagnosed with bone cancer in Dec. 2020 — and then her treatment led to another diagnosis: end-stage heart failure
Doctors initially thought she wouldn't live to see her 17th birthday, but thanks to a life-saving heart transplant, she just graduated high school
As for the future, MacKenzie, now 18, plans to become a nurseHigh school senior MacKenzie Maddry wore her cap and gown to her last doctor's appointment at Arkansas Children's in Little Rock. Why? She wanted to celebrate her graduation with the nurses who helped save her life.
'Not everybody gets that second chance of life," MacKenzie's mother, Dori Maddry, tells PEOPLE. "We're so thankful for all of the team and grateful for every day that we have with her.'
Dori was told her daughter, whose cancer treatments caused heart failure, wouldn't live to see her 17th birthday. But fortunately, thanks to a life saving heart transplant, she just graduated high school and is planning to become a nurse.
'It's definitely a gift,' says the grateful mom. 'It's changed everything.'
MacKenzie was in the eighth grade when she noticed a painful bump on her leg in the fall of 2020 — but she initially thought it was just a sports-related injury that she got from running track or playing soccer.
However, that December she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a cancer that starts in the bone and is so rare that only about 400 children under 20 are diagnosed each year, according to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
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After chemo and surgeries, she got another diagnosis in Oct. 2022: end-stage heart failure.
In order to survive long enough for a heart to become available, she had a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implanted in her chest. Thanks to the Abbott LVAD HeartMate 3 device, she was able to go home to wait for her new heart.
That call wouldn't come until 2024 — but that June, the family got the news they'd been waiting for.
Her family was sitting down to dinner at their home in Bella Vista, Ark., instead they started packing and MacKenzie Maddry made a quick reel for Instagram to announce the good news "to the world."
After her heart transplant, which took place just two days after the call, the teen was able to start walking up to a mile and a half in the mornings — and now she's able to do things she couldn't do before, like take baths or go swimming.
'I feel good,' MacKenzie tells PEOPLE.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help with ongoing medical expenses.
Because she was immunocompromised post transplant, she completed her senior year of high school online, but she still went to prom — and graduated on May 16.
'We're so blessed that she's still here with us today,' says her mom, who shares that even thinking about her daughter walking across the stage made her feel like an "emotional wreck."
MacKenzie, who wants to be a pediatric nurse, spends much of her free time volunteering and working as an advocate for better treatment and research for other cancer patients. She serves as the vice president of the Junior Advisory Board for the Make It Better Osteosarcoma Foundation and is a member of Abbott Heartmates program.
'It's so nice to meet people that know your struggle, that you've been going through,' she says.
As for what's next, MacKenzie has already enrolled in summer community college classes to get the pre-reqs for nursing school.
Her mom asked if she wanted to take a break, but MacKenzie said no.
Adds her mom, 'She's going forward, which makes me so proud."
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