INDIANAPOLIS— Carmel High School junior Addyson Czarnecki has always loved swimming.
“I love the hard work and I love the reward you get out of it,” explained Czarnecki.
“I love when you touch the wall and see that best time that you’ve been working so hard for,” she said.
Addyson is a swimmer at Carmel High School. The girls swimming team has won a world record 38-state titles in a row.
“She is really passionate about swimming,” explained Head Coach Chris Plumb.
“It’s rare to find find someone that wants to be a distance swimmer,” he said.
Two years ago, Czarnecki’s dreams came crashing down after a series of health scares.
“It’s like I got hit in the chest with a baseball bat,” explained Czarnecki.
“I was having a really hard time breathing, my heart rate was really high and I thought I was going to pass out. I was freaking out. I was at practice and I got out of the pool. I was crying, I didn’t know what was going on.”
Her health scare lead her to Riley Hospital for Children’s Pediatric cardiologist, Mark Ayers.
“Addy has something called Super Ventricular Tachycardia or S.V.T,” explained Ayers.
“What will happen is they will just all of a sudden have this sudden racing heart up to close to 300 beats a minute…for someone who is a competitive athlete that can really take a toll.”
Addyson underwent two separate ablation procedures at Riley.
“It’s sort of like a heart catheterization,” Ayers said.
Addyson’s recovery time was measured in days not months and she was able to return to the pool.
“The courage to keep coming back after going through two operations,” shared Plumb.
“The perseverance to keep going, trying and never to give up.”
Last week, Czarnecki helped her team win a 38th straight girls swimming state title. A couple of days later, she is already back in the pool preparing for 39.
“Next year will be 39. I’m confident in our abilities to do that.”
