Lea Zebrowski

Tonight many children at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health will rest their heads on a bright, colorful pillowcase rather than a standard hospital one. And they will have one person to thank - Lea Zebrowski. The Terre Haute teen was just 9 months old when she landed in the emergency room. She was so sick and weak she couldn’t even drink from her bottle. Doctors discovered she had two life-threatening heart conditions: dilated cardiomyopathy and a bicuspid aortic valve.

“It just didn’t work right,” Lea explains. “It’s bigger than normal and the muscle part of my heart doesn’t pump right.”

Lea’s mother, Stephanie, has the same condition, but had always believed hers was received through a virus, not heredity. She was shocked to discover her baby’s heart was only functioning at 10%. Stephanie says Riley cardiologist Dr. Robert Darragh had to make a bold decision to give Lea a trial medication. “Dr. Darragh said, ‘We have no choice. Either we try this or we’ll lose her.’”

It proved to be a life-saving judgment call. The medication continues to help Lea survive today. But she faces strict limitations. No running, no sports, and no overdoing it, or Lea’s heart pays a terrifying price.

“It just feels like it’s gonna stop. It goes slow and it feels like it’s not there, like it’s not working. And sometimes I’ll just be sitting there and it would pump out of my chest.”

As a pre-teen, she was often teased and accused of faking her disability for the sake of attention. “You can’t always see pain,” Lea says. “Technically I have a broken heart. You can’t see that.”

Lea admits it was very hard to be left out of activities like sports and cheerleading. But she has poured her energy into academics and service. She’s class president at North Vigo High School, a member of National Honor Society, and part of an anti-bullying group. But Lea also wanted to do something for kids at Riley.

“I remembered every time I stayed on the heart patient floor, the beds were so plain. All little kids usually have fun pillowcases on their bed, so I was like - pillowcases!” Classmates donated piles of brightly colored pillowcases and fabric. The sewing class pitched in. By the end of her drive, Lea hand-delivered nearly 300 pillowcases to the hospital.

People would never guess how fragile Lea’s heart is. But it’s impossible not to notice how big it is.

“Don’t think of what you can’t do,” Lea encourages other people. “Think of what you CAN do.”