CARMEL, Ind. — Ever since Addyson Czarnecki first jumped in at eight years old, the pool has been her happy place.
"I really love the feeling of when your body is so tired that your lungs are burning," Czarnecki said. "It's probably not a feeling everyone loves, but I also just love being in the water."
That all changed last year.
"About nine or 10 months ago, I started feeling tired all the time. It would start out with mild, racing heart episodes, until it got to the point [of] it happening almost every day," Czarnecki said.
She remembers one specific Tuesday morning when her heart rate skyrocketed to above 200 beats per minute for 10 minutes.
"My arms were drained, my fingers and toes were blue. I had a hard time breathing, and I was dizzy," Czarnecki said. "It was scary, too, because I didn't know if there was something just in my head or it was an actual thing."
Turns out, the issue wasn’t just in Czarnecki's head, but in her heart.
After a trip to Riley Hospital for Children, she was diagnosed with an arrhythmia called SVT, or Supraventricular tachycardia.
"There are these little pathways on my heart, and they conduct the electricity, and I had two abnormal pathways that were making my heart short-circuit a little bit," Czarnecki said.
So, on Dec. 23, Dr. Mark D. Ayers went in and repaired those abnormal pathways, which paved the way for Czarnecki to feel like herself in the water again.
"I feel so much stronger," Czarnecki said. "I had a meet three weeks after the procedure, and even then, I was going so much faster than at the meet before. I was on my best times. I actually went for a best time, which shocked me because I wasn't expecting to do that well!"
Ayers said Czarnecki is much happier and more confident after the operation.
The young Carmel swimmer has some big meets coming up in the next month — and some big goals, which include a dream to swim at the University of Michigan. But on her way there, she wants to be vocal about her health journey.
"I remember I was super confused. I had never heard of SVT before, and it was scary just to feel kind of alone," Czarnecki said. "You have to find people that are just going to listen and support you."
Now, Czarnecki can focus on swimming and securing that scholarship to college she sees in her future.