Woman says open heart surgery at UPMC Children's Hospital inspired her to become a doctor

The Free Care Fund at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh ensures no child is denied medical care. And every year since 1954, KDKA-TV has helped raise money for the Free Care Fund with our annual holiday telethon.

This week, as we get ready for our 72nd annual telethon, we want you to meet some of the children who are alive today thanks to the care they received at UPMC Children's.

Among them is Elexa White. We first met Elexa in 2017 when she was a student at Seneca Valley High School and was chosen to be the Junior Co-Host of the 64th Annual Free Care Fund Telethon. Since then, she's graduated from high school and college and is now in medical school.

"I'm now a third-year medical student. I'm almost done. I will officially be a doctor in about a year and a half," Elexa said.

That's right, Elexa is well on her way from patient to doctor.

"It's crazy to think that I'm already at this point because it was such a far-off dream for so long whenever I was a child," she said.

Elexa's dream of becoming a doctor, specifically a pediatric cardiologist, has everything to do with her own personal health journey.

"Growing up, my earliest memories as a child are at Children's Hospital because those were big, formative parts of my life and things I remember. It shaped my career today and where I am now," she said. 

When Elexa was just two months old, her mother took her to the doctor for a routine check-up.

"And it was there that my pediatrician heard something funny when he was listening to my heart," Elexa said.

He suggested Elexa's parents should go to UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for testing.

"They ultimately diagnosed me with something called a VSD," Elexa said. "That stands for ventricular septal defect. So, essentially, I had a very large hole in my heart. They concluded that I was very ill. My heart was enlarged. It wasn't beating right. My body wasn't getting the oxygen that it needed."

At just four months old, Elexa had open heart surgery. The operation just happened to take place on a day that many consider to be unlucky. Friday the 13th.

"Already my parents were terrified that their small baby was going to have open heart surgery. Having it on Friday the 13th wasn't very exciting for them, but obviously it ultimately saved my life," she said.

Since then, the number 13 has played a role in many of the pivotal moments of Elexa's life, and she's come to embrace it as her lucky number.

Meanwhile, more than a decade later, Elexa found herself back at UPMC Children's, but not because of her heart. This time, it was her kidneys. Doctors diagnosed her with kidney disease.

"It's called IgA nephropathy or IgA nephritis," Elexa said. "Essentially, my kidneys get inflamed from time to time, sometimes for no reason at all, but mostly triggered by an illness. So to this day, if I get a little bit of a cold, I have to watch my kidneys. They get a little bit angry," she added.

Through all her health challenges, Elexa decided pretty early on that she wanted to be on the other side of the hospital bed.

"I knew pretty much since I was old enough to make the tech read the echo to me while they were doing it," Elexa said.

And that was reinforced by her experiences at Heart Camp.

"Heart Camp was arguably the most formative thing in my life," Elexa said. "I made the most amazing friends that I am still friends with to this day and who are my best friends in the world. At Heart Camp, they really do their best to give you a normal child experience. That's the whole point of the camp. They want the children to be able to bond with other kids and meet people like them who have heart conditions and who are going through the same struggles they are. But also, they want them to be able to kick a soccer ball and play football and rock climb in a safe space where there are lots of doctors and nurses and staff around."

Elexa started going when she was 10 years old, eventually advanced to a counselor, and continues to go now, even as an adult.

"They still can't get rid of me. I'm now an associate director and I help plan throughout the year," she said.

Elexa is also currently working at a hospital in Scranton, where during a recent rotation in the neonatal intensive care unit, she helped spot something very familiar on a baby's echocardiogram.

"I said, 'I think I see a VSD,'" she said. The same condition she had as an infant.

"The patient may or may not need surgery. They'll follow up with cardiology. But I was ecstatic. I thought if nothing else happens this month, I have achieved my lifelong goal of diagnosing a child with the same thing that I had," Elexa said.

It was a full circle moment.

"Ultimately, if I'm diagnosing a child with a heart condition one day in the future and the parents are feeling obviously scared the way that mine were, to be able to say to them, 'Your kid will be fine. I had one and look at me.' I want to be able to be that reassurance for my patients, and I think that it does come from a unique place for me being that I was once in their shoes," Elexa said.

And someday, Elexa hopes to return to UPMC Children's. But this time, as Dr. Elexa White, a little girl born with a hole in her heart who grew into a woman with a heart full of love and compassion.

"It's things like this that do make me reflect on everything and I think, 'wow, you know, I was a sick kid and went through a lot and now I'm doing something amazing out of it,'" she said. 

And now is your chance to help patients at UPMC Children's, just like Elexa once was. Please join us this Thursday, Dec. 18, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and donate to the Free Care Fund. Your donations help thousands of local children and their families every year, and we couldn't do it without you.