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Cubs 'Bat Kid' is 8-year-old Plainfield girl

DOWNERS GROVE - Going to a Major League Baseball game can be a rite of passage for some kids. For 8-year-old Maggie Meyers of Plainfield, it was the opportunity of a lifetime: She was the Honorary Bat Kid for the Chicago Cubs at the April 28 game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Throughout the Cubs' season, Advocate Health Care, a legacy partner of the Chicago Cubs, provides young patients the opportunity to be Honorary Bat Kids for a game. This is just one way that Advocate gives back to its patients, families, and communities.

Born March 11, 2008, Maggie developed an irregular heart beat shortly after birth and was admitted to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital's Level III neonatal intensive care, where her mother, Leanne Meyers, has worked as a registered nurse since 2001.

Doctors diagnosed Maggie with Wolfe-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, a congenital heart problem, and supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), an abnormal heart rhythm. At age 5, she underwent cardiac ablation surgery at Advocate Children's Hospital-Oak Lawn.

Now she's a happy, healthy second-grader at Eagle Pointe Elementary School in Plainfield. She attended the Major League Baseball game with her parents, Tim and Leanne Meyers, her brother, Peyton Meyers, and her grandfather, Gerald Meyers. Maggie and Peyton sat in the dugout before the game, meeting players and getting autographs.

Dr. Rajeev Dixit was one of the neonatologists who cared for Maggie when she was in the NICU.

"Maggie's come a long way," Dixit said. "It's a privilege to take care of the child of someone you work with."

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