Like most 2 year olds, Julia Olejar is a bundle of energy.

A smiley little girl with curly locks, she loves playing with her favorite teddy bear, she serves her parents imaginary beverages from her play kitchen set, she begs to watch Elmo and Barney and she enjoys playing with her 1-year-old brother, Anthony.

But the scars on Julia’s chest make her unlike most toddlers.

Julia was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body.

Her condition was first detected when her mom, Kelly Olejar, had a routine ultrasound during about her 28th week of pregnancy. Follow-up tests showed that Julia’s heart was on the right side of her body instead of the left.

“It was horrible at first,” said Tim Olejar, Julia’s father. “They made it sound like she wasn’t going to live.”

But then the couple was given hope.

Dr. Amarjit Singh, a pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Heart Clinic at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, was brought on to the case. Singh said he told the couple that Julia could survive her condition, but that the baby would need attention right at birth.

When Julia was born, after what Kelly describes as a pretty normal pregnancy and birth, she was immediately taken for tests. Doctors needed to perform an ultrasound on the baby to confirm Julia’s condition.

Julia remained in the hospital for six days after she was born and then was sent home while she awaited surgery. While doctors initially wanted to wait a while before performing open-heart surgery on the infant, Julia’s health required her to have the operation about six weeks later.

New parents Kelly and Tim tried to educate themselves as best they could on what exactly would be done during Julia’s surgery, but they left their infant daughter in the hands of her surgeon, Dr. David Overman, of Children’s Heart Clinic at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota.

“I don’t think you can ever be totally prepared,” Kelly said.

Doctors were confident Julia would pull through the operation, which would repair a single atrium, an obstruction of the pulmonary veins, an abnormal mitral valve, poor lung function and a slower than usual heart rate.

“We thought the risk of losing her was less than 5 to 6 percent, but we knew the recovery was going to be long,” Singh said.

Julia spent more than four months in the hospital after surgery as she recovered and endured more procedures, including having a pacemaker put in. As she lay in the intensive care unit, Kelly and Tim were forced to stand by and watch.

There were difficult times when they weren’t allowed to pick up their baby. There were also times that spurred good memories for the Olejars. Kelly remembered one day she held a teddy bear up to Julia, and when she told her baby daughter to touch the bear’s nose, the infant reached out for it. Kelly laughed with the nurse and declared that her daughter was a genius.

Through the good days and bad, Kelly and Tim remained strong.

“It got us closer,” Tim said. “It’s not something most (couples) go through.”

While Julia’s stay in the hospital was trying for the Olejars, it was only the first part of her recovery. Once she was released from the hospital it was then up to Kelly and Tim to keep Julia healthy enough so she wouldn’t have to return there.

The Olejars needed to keep their home as germ-free as possible for Julia during her first year so that she could properly heal. Tim and Kelly made sure to be clean when holding their baby, which included washing up when they’d return home from work or other errands. They also limited the number of visitors allowed in the home and tried to keep Julia inside the house as much as possible.

“After what you went through, you can handle anything,” Kelly said.

It was a vigilant process to keep Julia healthy, but it paid off. Julia was able to remain out of the hospital, and, even now, Kelly credits Julia’s good health to her being allowed to properly heal during her first year.

“Her parents did a great job,” Singh said.

Now, as she nears her third birthday, Julia is a healthy, active toddler.

“We never call kids cured,” Singh said. “But I think she should do quite well.”

Julia only sees Singh once every six months, and now she and her family are working to share her story with others.

Julia was a special guest at a Minnesota Lynx basketball game in 2009, and she and her family help raise money and awareness for children’s heart ailments by participating in the HeartBeat 5000, a race that raises money for the cardiac program at Children’s of Minnesota.

The Olejars also have advice for other families who are caring sick children.

“Never give up hope,” Kelly Olejar said. “We stayed extremely positive. We never lost hope.”