DERBY, Conn. (WTNH) — A 17-year-old student at Derby High school is full of spirit, power and more strength than you see on the surface.

“You never know when it is your last day for everyone, but for me, I have that reality every morning,” Bridget Wright said.

You can find Wright on the sidelines with the rest of the Derby High School cheerleaders tumbling and pepping up the crowd. You’d never know she lives with a life-threatening heart condition. And this is more than she ever thought would be physically possible for her life.

“I had about four holes in my heart, and they repaired all of them except for one,” Wright said.

When she was about a year old, she was undergoing heart surgery.

“So they fixed it as best they could, but they couldn’t get everything, so it is still bleeding to this day,” Wright said.

Doctors don’t know how she survived, but here she is, at the age of 17, living each day with pulmonary stenosis — a condition where tomorrow is never guaranteed.

She was once told she couldn’t take part in physical activity, but she is breaking those barriers, cheering and flipping across the floor.

“I’ve found that tumbling takes my mind off every problem I’ll ever have in the world,” Wright said.

Her strength is why she’s been honored with the Spirit of Sport Award, which recognizes those going above and beyond education-based athletics. She’s a high school athlete on a mission to impact lives.

“I want to be a pediatric cardiology nurse, possibly a doctor if I could, and just help people,” Wright said. “I just want to be someone my family needed when I was younger. If I could just change one life.”

She’s well on her way, living with confidence and support from her school and teammates to carry out that dream one day at a time.

“Before I take my last breath, that’s my goal,” Wright said.

Watch previous editions of What’s Right With Schools here.