Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) Awareness Week: Remembering Alysha’s Journey with CHD
“AN ORDINARY DAY, WITH AN EXTRAORDINARY FRIEND”
Written by Stephanie Alexandre
Alysha was someone who could always find the fun in everything, and her presence would light up a room. High school could get pretty rough, especially at Carroll where we were always stressed about catching up with our homework! But no matter what, Alysha had so much joy and would find a way to make the best of it.
I remember one lunch time we had together, where we bonded over our favourite country singers, and one of them was Hunter Hayes. Suddenly, she grabbed some tape and we made a little 3-D stick man who we called “Pocket Hayes” and would take turns bringing him with us as a good luck charm for tests or study nights. One day she showed up with a little vest she made for him, and I couldn’t believe how much joy that little stick man brought to our school hours. Of course, one of the boys had to destroy Mr. Pocket Hayes, but that couldn’t ruin her fun.
I remember how a few of us in our friend group had to work on a video project for English, which was an assignment Alysha had already finished. But she decided to help us out anyways as our “director and motivational support,” and organized the day with snacks and games to the point where she turned the project into a party.
I learned so much from this girl, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have a friend who could turn ordinary days into some of my favourite memories.
Love, Stephanie
