BARTLETT, Tenn. — For anyone going up against Jaela Boyland on the court, there was a long scouting report to prepare.

Jaela had a basketball in her hands before she could remember, and she was good. But during one practice, before sophomore season with the Bartlett High School Lady Panthers, something felt off.

“I started feeling dizzy. I was about to keep playing through it but then it got worse,” Jaela said. “And then I started having sharp pains in my chest.”

Jaela’s mother, Latorria Boyland, said they took her to the ER.

“They did a couple of tests and sent us back home that day,” she said.

“Later that night, well actually 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning she came and told us that she was still hurting pretty bad,” said James Boyland, Jaela’s father.

Jaela – then 15 years old – was diagnosed with a rare cardiac disease. Blood results revealed she suffered a heart attack during practice.

Crushed, but not broken, the Boyland family was held up by the Bartlett Girl’s Basketball program.

“When she was in the hospital, at one point they were there every day,” James said. “They came and hung out for a couple of hours even after practices.”

“All the players were there and it was just sad because I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her because her and her family are the type that will do anything for you,” said Lanerra Gray, one of Jaela’s teammates.

Jaela is now sidelined. Doctors are afraid a return to the court will threaten her life. In the nearly three years since, she’s had numerous operations and visited hospitals across the country for treatment.

“Not being able to make her feel better, seeing her go through the whole process is pretty tough. Not having answers, that’s the toughest thing,” James said.

Jaela says that she thinks the ordeal has made her stronger as a person.

“It’s showed me that I’m more mentally tough than I thought I was. And physically,” Jaela said.

Jaela has too much heart to quit. While maintaining her 4.0 GPA, Jaela refuses to give up on basketball, or the Bartlett program. She still attends every practice and game she can. She runs drills, keeps stats and tracks coaching adjustments.

“I push for them to work hard against each other because I know if I was out there, I’d be trying to work hard too,” Jaela said.

But most of all she’s there, inspiring her teammates with her determination.

“She’s like, okay you’ve missed this many layups or this many free throws, so, you’ve gotta step your game up, you’ve got it. She’s just very encouraging,” Lanerra said.

“It’s tough to even measure the impact that Jaela has on this school, on this program,” Jim Steinbrecher with Bartlett Athletics said.

The team saved her number and spot on the bench – they hung her senior poster as if she was still playing.

“It means a lot because they could have easily given my jersey to anyone else, or my spot,” Jaela said. “They could have just walked away after they found out about it, but they continue to stay and support me.”

“We’ve become a family now. It’s not just the high school and us. We’re all a family unit now,” Latorria said.

Jaela is now waiting for a heart transplant, and just last month was put on a list of critical patients. But she doesn’t seem to hear a word about the dangers – only one thing catches her ear regarding a potential operation.

“It motivates me. Because I know that I can still… the doctors told me that some of the heart transplant patients went back to professional sports,” Jaela said. “Hopefully, I can play basketball again. I’ve been waiting for that.”