Many have said that through adversity there is a seed of equal or greater benefit. Of course, when you are right in the middle of a major challenge, it is often hard to take solace in such words. Little did John and Elizabeth Kline know when their first daughter, MacKinzie was born with a congenital heart defect that one day she would become an extraordinary golfer with dreams of becoming a professional golfer and a huge source of inspiration for people all over the country.
Neither John Kline nor his wife had played much golf and neither knew very much about the sport that would soon capture their daughter's heart. If one saw Mac, as she is affectionately called by her family and friends, walking around the Encinitas Ranch Golf Course snack bar area, one might mistake her for any typical blonde haired, pony tailed 14 year old kid. If you followed her to the driving range and watched her practice, you would soon realize she is anything but typical. Get a chance to spend some time with her and talk to her and you quickly realize how very special she is.
“She has a great aura around her and everybody loves her” says John Mason, the Director of Instruction at Encinitas Ranch Golf Course and Mac's Coach for the last eight years.
Mac born March 30, 1992 at Scripps La Jolla Hospital, in La Jolla, California with a heart defect described as Single Ventricle with transposition of the greater vessels. Her liver is transverse (meaning it is on the left side of her body) and she has aspleenia, which means she was born without a spleen. Simply put, transposition is when oxygenated blood from the lung flows in the wrong direction. This causes poor oxygenation to the body. You do not have to be a medical student to understand that proper oxygenation is vital to sustain life. MacKinzie's Single Ventricle pumps her blood through her body and the blood flow to and from her lungs is done by gravitational flow.
Mac was only 11 weeks old when Dr. John Lamberti of San Diego Children's Hospital performed open heart surgery on her. This was one of two open heart surgeries the second performed when MacKinzie was 23 months old. The Kline's were overjoyed their daughter would survive surgery, but doctors said Mac would never be like “normal” children or be able to participate in sports, especially any aerobic activities. This challenge did not stop the Klines from looking for ways to expand Mac's horizons. They figured they would find less physically stressful things she could participate in; hence, golf. The doctors were right, she is definitely not normal.
In March of 2002 MacKinzie Jean Kline was nominated as the Children's Heart Foundation’s National Spokesperson. “What better person could represent our foundation than a child who has endured and has overcome a congenital heart defect in the manner that MacKinzie has shown. Mac is an excellent example of what positive things can truly happen to infants born with a congenital heart defect” says Sarah Bilississ, the previous Executive Director.
Click here for a great video about Mac done for the Ace Hardware Shootout for the Children’s Miracle Network.
