Byron Nelson grad battles heart problems to achieve her college basketball dream

While not as strong as most others, Ryleigh Murray’s heart is large enough to hold all her dreams.

Ryleigh, or Ry as she is often called, has dealt with a congenital heart defect since birth. She suffered a stroke in late 2022 and had a pacemaker implanted in early 2023.

She has side effects that include dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. None of that, though, has stood in her way.

In fact, the Trophy Club Byron Nelson graduate will be playing basketball this season at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, after earning academic and athletic scholarships.

Starting sports at a young age

“My parents put me in soccer when I was 18 months old, and at that age it’s more just to get the kid out of the house,” she said with a chuckle.

Around that same time she started to dance. As she entered elementary school, she discovered many of her friends were playing basketball, so she asked her parents if they would sign her up. She now says it was “one of the best decisions of my life.”

As she continued growing up, though, she said she realized that to be really good at one thing, other things must sometimes be sacrificed. She gave up dance and focused on sports — especially basketball.

However, that also brought about some questions about her health.

Playing with a pacemaker

“We just figured she would eventually not be able to keep up and she would naturally move towards another extracurricular activity,” her father, Robert Murray, said. “However, when she got older and started to have these dizzy spells, we became a bit concerned, and definitely after she had her stroke and they found that she needed a pacemaker to correct her dizzy spells, we became really concerned.”

So the family did some research and learned that even some professional athletes have actually played with a pacemaker — golfer Harold Payne and soccer player Christian Eriksen, for example.

“We then worked with her doctors, and they said she could play. And they even positioned the battery of the pacemaker under her rib cage so that it was more protected for her, when they usually have it more exposed for easier access when they go to replace batteries, which, for her, may last about 10 years,” Robert said.

Ry was sidelined for six months. Robert said the first game back was nerve-wracking to watch.

“Especially when she was knocked down and hit the floor hard,” he said. “We couldn’t breathe for a second, but she got right back up.”

Battling through the pain

Ry has learned to deal with pain. Scar tissue pulls on her lungs, and it sometimes hurts to breathe while conditioning.

“Every time something came to challenge me, I pushed through, got through it head-on, because that’s truly the only way to do it,” she said.

Ry admits there were times when she felt like she could not keep up, but she said those times only encouraged her to keep forging forward.

“When something is hard, you just have to remember it’s just a blip in time, nothing determination can’t help you overcome,” she said. “Any time I would get dizzy in the middle of practice or feel like I couldn’t breathe, those were hard, but again, just push through. In the grand scheme of life, those things only last seconds.”

Her trainer of several years, Ryan Light, said her resilience is an inspiration.

“Whether it’s an injury, a school problem, a coach problem or even a heart problem, she lets nothing stop her,” he said. “She finds a way to work around it and work through it to continue chasing her dreams. Being able to witness that is something I am extremely grateful for, as it has inspired me to be better as it would anybody that sees her journey and continued growth.”

Basketball career highlights

Ry played in Spain in the summer of 2022. Her team was invited by a coach who was taking a team to Barcelona.

“It’s not every day a 14-year-old gets to go play in an overseas tournament,” she said. “Getting to learn, meet and compete with all of the players from outside my little bubble of DFW was amazing and an opportunity I was blessed to have.”

As for her high school team, she helped the Lady Bobcats make a remarkable turnaround. After winning just three games in the 2023-24 season, they finished 25-9 and won District 4-6A.

Ry was also successful in the Future Farmers of America. She plans to major in zoo sciences as a prerequisite for veterinary school.

College and continued care

Ry continues to take medications for her heart each day, the main one being blood thinners. She sees a cardiologist annually, and a hematologist and neurologist every six months.

“We never imagined we would be in this position because we were and still are unsure of her life expectancy, and we were told she would never be able to play sports at this level,” Robert Murray said. “We are so very proud of her that she’s never used her heart defect as an excuse.”