t’s World Cup time!" bellows the trainer and the girls who make up the elite Dragons travel soccer team squeal and race out onto Barnes Field in Grosse Pointe Woods. Twelve-year old Sarah McPharlin - number 17 - trots to her spot at defense near the net. She smiles and nods to her parents standing on the sidelines. Dianne McPharlin, 48, her mother and a Grosse Pointe special education teacher, wipes away a tear and clutches a thick scrapbook to her chest on this evening in late September.

It's a chronicle of the past 14 dramatic months in Sarah's life, starting with the day in July 2001 when the little girl collapsed at the local swimming pool.

A rare and sometimes fatal heart infection had caused her heart to stop beating. It was the beginning of an ordeal for both the family and the community. Sarah was quickly transferred from her local hospital to Children's Hospital of Michigan, where her long medical journey would begin.

Children throughout the Grosse Pointes tied yellow ribbons to trees in Sarah's honor. Doctors tried to help her, first with a heart pacemaker, and then with a high-tech "left ventricle assist device," the first for a child in Michigan, which helped her heart pump blood - temporarily.

In the meantime, a 68-day wait began for a heart transplant. Jim McPharlin, 47, Sarah's dad and a DaimlerChrysler manager, was told that the corporate jet was standing by to fly Sarah's new heart to Michigan at a moment's notice.

As Sarah blocks a shot and wins a cheer from her teammates, her parents recall the bittersweet memories of her hospitalization."

Dr. Walters was always honest, thorough, and had a game plan should any complications arise.

He, like all medical staff, gave us hope and helped us stay as calm and focused as possible through an incredibly scary/sad time," said Jim, referring to Henry Walters, M.D., chief of cardiovascular surgery who led the surgical team working on Sarah.

"He gave Sarah a rose on her birthday," said Dianne. "And he said, `'I will find you a good heart.' On the day of the transplant, he hugged , and kissed Sarah. 'I will take care of you,' he said.

But it went far beyond Dr. Walters.

Everyone was special - every nurse, every single department. When she left the hospital, the staff lined the halls to say good-bye."

Jim recounts one bad night when Sarah flailed in her hospital bed. "A nurse came in and said, 'I know just what she needs,"' he said. "She held Sarah and gave her a big hug. Other nurses planned Dianne's birthday party. They bought a cake and got Sarah involved. It helped her to forget for awhile."

Sarah bounces the soccer ball off of her knee. Her parents say they are now getting "glimpses of the old Sarah," the bright, funny and unstoppable girl she was before her illness. She is on the mend now and they are thinking about writing a book about her journey. But as dusk falls, Sarah has no time for any of that.

"They're all going to Baskin-Robbins," Sarah says, tugging on her mother's sleeve. "Let me go with them. I can't wait for you."

And in a moment, the tiny blonde with the braces and the big smile disappears around a fence, leaving her parents behind.

Sarah (right) poses with her sisters
 Emily (left) and Katie

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