Samara Cursetji Mendu was born in 1994 with several complex congenital heart defects, which were not detected for nearly two months after birth. In the short twenty-two months of her life, Samara underwent open-heart surgery three times, as well as several other surgical procedures. After an initially rocky start, she did extremely well, amazing and delighting her doctors and her parents, Rashida and Raghu, with her recovery and progress. Her short life was full of joy and laughter, and she touched everyone who met her with her vibrancy and spirit. Despite the difficulty of her condition and the intensity of the medical care she needed, her attitude made it difficult to believe that there was anything medically wrong with her, or that she had been through so much in her short life. Continually pronounced "an excellent candidate" for her projected surgery, she inexplicably passed away after her third open-heart surgery in March 1996. In a way, given the complexity of her condition, it was a miracle that she actually did so well and survived for so long. In Sanskrit, "Samara" means "a warrior, one who walks with the immortals and is accompanied by the Gods." Today, Samara, the little warrior, does walk with the Gods.