February is American Heart Month.

One in 110 babies is born with a form of congenital heart disease. Thanks to advances in medical science, more than 90 percent of those infants now survive to adulthood.

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is one example. Before complex surgeries were developed, children born with it died before their first birthday. Now, 65 percent of those kids are expected to survive to at least 5 years of age.

Our Cat Viglienzoni spoke to a survivor in Burlington about how he's still alive today.

To understand how amazing Andrew Wright's survival story is you first need to understand how your heart works. It's got four chambers, two atria and two ventricles. Blood comes in on the right side is pumped to the lungs and then comes back into the left side of the heart to get pumped back out into your body.

Wright was born with an underdeveloped left ventricle. That means the main pumping chamber to get oxygenated blood from his heart to the rest of his body doesn't really work. And that's where we pick up the story to find out how, at 29, he's still alive.

"I remember being in a room with my parents and my cardiologist and hearing them talk about life expectancy when I was like 8," Wright said. "I don't think they knew that I knew what was going on."

For Wright, growing up with hypoplastic left heart syndrome meant stints in and out of the hospital, endless trips to Philadelphia or Boston to see heart specialists and no promise that he'd live to adulthood.

"When I was younger, I tried to keep it pretty secret. I didn't like it," he said. "Like at the pool, I'd wear a shirt because I have a big scar down my chest. I didn't want people to know."

That scar, hidden day-to-day underneath his shirt, is the only outward sign of a massive medical effort to save him when he was just a baby.

"I've had my three major open heart surgeries: the Norwood, Glenn and Fontan," Wright said.

His cardiologist, Dr. Fred Wu, sent us illustrations showing how over the first year or so of Wright's life, surgeons rerouted blood flow in his heart so that the right ventricle would do the pumping back to his body. Those delicate surgeries are done on the tiny hearts of infants and toddlers.

"I've been one of the very lucky ones," Wright said. "I've lived through all the surgeries. I've lived into adulthood."

Life isn't totally normal for Wright. He avoids alcohol and caffeine, and ends up in the hospital in Boston for medical emergencies. But he holds down a full-time job at Dealer.com, has a dog and even exercises.

Now, he's on a mission to educate others about what it's like to live with a congenital heart defect. He wants people to know it isn't necessarily a death sentence but surgeries aren't cures and come with side effects.

"In the back of my mind, there's always that fear like when is the other shoe going to drop," Wright said.

He says he hopes his story will raise awareness and encourage support and counseling for groups of people he believes are, right now, underserved.