Heather Kim McNair

Heather was born in Dallas, TX to Kim and Billy McNair. After her father's tragic death in 2000, Kim and she moved to Las Vegas to be with family. When asked her first day at Merryhill Pre-school where she was from, Heather proudly announced she was from another country, Texas! Heather was introduced to piano, gymnastics, and swimming before the 1st grade.

Heather was enrolled at International Christian Academy (ICA) for starting kindergarten. She was so knowledgeable that she was promoted to 1st grade after 2 weeks. Expected problems of being a year younger than her classmates never arose. Heather excelled in all areas through the 5th grade. Also, in 2004, she gained a new dad, Lew - Mr. Mom was initiated.

Heather applied and was accepted at Hyde Park Middle School, a magnet school for math and science, for grades 6 - 8. Once again, she excelled in all areas and met some of her lifelong friends. As part of the choir, she sang at Carnegie Hall in NY City. She went with another group to President Obama's inauguration in Jan '09. She managed this excellent school performance while playing club soccer and swimming!

Once again Heather applied for a new magnet school for high school, just 2 miles from our home. She was selected to be in the 2nd graduating class at West Technology and Career Academy. Besides her demanding courses, she was a teacher's aide for history for a year. She was in Health Occupations Students of America ( HOSA) for 2 years. She was a delegate to the NV state convention both years. Then she went on to represent NV at the national conventions in Nashville and Orlando. As her interest in becoming a doctor grew, she pursued shadowing a hand and shoulder surgeon. She also participated in an educational program at Southern Hills Hospital. She did volunteer work at the Sahara West Library. And she was a high school athlete in swimming and soccer plus continuing her club sports participation.

Heather was selected as 1 of 12 students across Nevada to enter the Premed program at Univ. of NV Reno (UNR). By meeting certain requirements across the 4 years, she was guaranteed a spot at LTNR Med School. Unfortunately, health issues led to a semester of lower grades and she

was dropped from the premed program. She worked part time at Ulta, some volunteer work at a pet store, and did Taekwondo classes. She graduated with an honors B.S. in Biology and minor in history.

During her junior year at UNR, Heather started developing Plan B from being a doctor, pharmacy. She explored the career and pharmacy schools. She applied many, interviewed about 6 including 2 in the top 10 in the country, and accepted at them all. She chose the Univ. of Washington pharmacy school in Seattle. We moved her there Labor Day weekend of '18. Through the school, because of her knowledge of compounding drugs for prescriptions, she got a part time, full time summer, job at a pharmacy 30 miles away. She met 2 great roommates, close friends forever. She managed to pass a year of difficult courses over the 3 semesters.

This was despite some health issues and school closure for snow killing course schedules and tests in the winter semester.

Sports were hit (her mom with a golf club) and miss for Heather. She learned tennis and played with her cousin and aunt. Golf lessons were probably too early in her physical development. Plus she was more interested in the bunnies on the course than shots. Where she excelled was soccer and swimming. Mostly as a goalie and sometime forward on Red Rock Raptors, she and her team were highly competitive around Las Vegas. Her 3-on-3 team won 3rd place in a national competition held in Round Rock, TX. She lettered freshman year as a goalie at Palo Verde High School. An injury during club soccer ended her soccer play. She swam for Las Vegas swim club and also Palo Verde High School in various events and relays. She lettered all 4 years and went to the NV state championships I year.

World traveler was Heather. She started with her mom and me to Cancun, MX. We went to many timeshare spots including San Diego, Oceanside, Big Bear, and mid spots in California, Bear Lake, UT, Washington state. We also went on 2 cruises together, a Disney cruise and an Alaskan one. In the summer of '18, we went to the east coast of Australia. But she's also a solo

world traveler. During her middle school, she went on a group trip to England and Ireland. Before senior year at UNR, she did a study abroad in Seoul, South Korea. Last Christmas she went to visit friends in Dubai.

We spent a wonderful week with Heather 28 Jul to 4 Aug. We stayed at Birch Bay WA near the Canadian border. Heather picked us up at the airport and drove up to the timeshare. Then she battled traffic back to Seattle to eat a special sushi dinner with friends. The next morn she's back and we're off to Victoria British Columbia for 2.5 great days. One highlight was a whale watching trip where we saw Orcas, Humpbacks, and 4 types of seals. The scenery was great. The other was the British Columbian Museum with a Mayan exhibit. Heather from an early age was keen on history, especially any ancient civilizations. Back to Birch Bay and Thursday to Seattle for Pike Place and some great Korean food. The rest of the week was relaxation, wine tasting, and SHARK WEEK. Heather was always fascinated by sharks, the oceans, and sea life.

This past year was the happiest Heather's been in a while - all due to her close friends, progress in her career, Seattle, and her supportive parents.

COURAGE - that's the defining word for Heather, her attitude, her life. She has battled health issues since an infant: eczema, allergies, finally seizures. Her most severe allergies were to cats and nuts. Her allergy to dogs was muted but showed as eczema. We had to give away our valuable family member Oreo. Late in her sophomore year of high school, she had her 1st seizure. Despite extensive testing by her pediatric neurologist, no cause was ever found. Her courage in the face of these ailments was phenomenal. She constantly attended school, took exams, went to work despite the migraine headaches that seemed to come as part of her seizure regime. Look back above at all her accomplishments in her life despite her health!

COURAGE - Not the absence of fear or despair, but the strength to conquer them.