Crystal Flores is a CHD advocate, public speaker, and Heart Hero from Los Angeles, California. Crystal is 27 and her CHD journey began when she was an infant. Crystal’s mother noticed that Crystal’s skin, nail beds, and lips would turn blue at times and she had trouble breathing. She took the baby to a doctor who performed an echocardiogram. The doctor knew something was very wrong but wasn’t able to diagnose it. He sent them to a cardiologist, and finally Crystal’s seven complex congenital heart defects were diagnosed. Dextrocardia, Hypoplastic Right Ventricle, Tricusid Atresia, Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), Pulmonary Stenosis, and Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA). Dextrocardia is extremely rare, occurring in 1% of the population. It happens when the heart develops on the right side of the body instead of the left, but Crystal is able to survive that way.  Her heart also has an absent or very small right ventricle, a missing tricuspid valve, the aorta and pulmonary artery come from the wrong ventricle, and her heart has holes between the atrium and ventricles.

Crystal has been through eight open-heart surgeries and had a heart catheterization procedure September of 2014. She has survived two cardiac arrests during two separate surgeries.

“I’ve had a long, hard journey with CHD but I’ve learned to see it in a positive way. I still continue to fight this disease everyday but without CHD I wouldn’t have learned how beautiful life is or how to appreciate it. CHD has shaped me into the strong woman I am today.”

Crystal sees CHD as a challenge to grow as a person and to be the best she can be. It’s taught her to be loving, caring, compassionate, and most of all, it’s taught her to never give up. “Life is worth fighting for and if I had the chance to change anything that I’ve gone through because of CHD, I would not take it. Because for me, LIFE is the most beautiful thing that exists and I’ll do anything to fight for my life and others’ as well. HEART DISEASE CAN’T BEAT ME!

As an adult, Crystal has become a passionate heart disease advocate and public speaker to raise awareness and increase funding for CHD, the #1 birth-defect worldwide. Her dream is to save more lives and Crystal has dedicated the rest of her life doing it.