Plainfield Girl Named Honorary Bat Kid for Chicago Cubs

Maggie Meyers of Plainfield spent the first nine days of her life in Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit and later underwent pediatric heart surgery, according to a press release from the hospital.

Now she’s a happy, healthy 8-year-old who has the opportunity of a lifetime: Serving as Honorary Bat Kid for the Chicago Cubs.

Maggie will be the Honorary Bat Kid at the April 28 game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field, the release said. Throughout the Cubs' season, Advocate Health Care provides young patients the opportunity to be Honorary Bat Kids for a game.

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Born March 11, 2008, Maggie developed an irregular heart beat shortly after birth and was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital’s Level III neonatal intensive care, where her mother, Leanne Meyers, has worked as a registered nurse since 2001, the release said. 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. Maggie is now a healthy second grader at Eagle Pointe Elementary School in Plainfield, according to the release.

She will attend the Major League Baseball game with her parents, Tim and Leanne Meyers, her brother, Peyton Meyers, and her grandfather, Gerald Meyers.

“I am grateful to Good Samaritan Hospital for the chance to be a bat girl at the Cubs game,” Maggie said in the release. “I can’t wait!”

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 in the release. “It’s a privilege to take care of the child of someone you work with.”