A Logan County elementary school student has received a great honor: she has been named a National Youth Heart Ambassador for the American Heart Association.

Arianna Chambers is only nine years old, but given her energy and spirited personality, you would never guess that she has already had five surgeries in those nine years.

“She’s had two brain surgeries, a spinal cord operation, a bladder operation and an open heart surgery,” said mother Traci Chambers-Robinson. “It was scary from day one, the last nine years have been horrific.”

Chambers-Robinson said Arianna was diagnosed with heart disease just 14 hours after her birth.

“We knew from birth that she had a congenital heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot,” Chambers-Robinson explained. “They explained it as the perfect storm – she was in the 2% of children where most congenital heart defects are accompanied by at least one other thing – in her case, several.”

Her mother said she was inspired by West Virginia’s first National Youth Heart Ambassador, so she made a video about her heart condition and sent it to the American Heart Association.

“I think there were 250 to 240 candidates and they chose 20 from across the United States and she was one of them,” Chambers-Robinson explained.

Chambers-Robinson said there are also local ambassadors who represent the state, but Arianna was chosen to represent the nation. Her story will be shared with students in West Virginia and across the country.

“I just like helping people – it’s fun,” Arianna said. “I think it would inspire people – if they had the same passion as me – to just live like other people and not just sit in a room and do nothing.”

Arianna will spend the next year promoting a “heart healthy lifestyle” by raising funds for the American Heart Association and participating in the Kids Heart Challenge at school.

“This year I’ll probably put it at 2,000 – last year it was 1,000,” Arianna said, explaining how much money she plans to raise. “Every day you go to the gym – you win prizes and you do jump rope and everything.”

Arianna said she just wants to live a healthy life and be happy while helping others.

“She has really taken off – she lives every day as if nothing happened,” Chambers-Robinson said.

Arianna also plans to participate in the Charleston Heart Walk in October.