He came to the U.S. as a boy with a heart defect; now this Springfield valedictorian hopes to become a cardiologist

Abdirizak Farah, who arrived in America from Somalia with barely any formal education and congenital heart disease, was named valedictorian of his class at Duggan Academy in Springfield. Beyond graduating as his school’s valedictorian, his dream is to become a cardiologist so that he can heal other people with diseases like his. “My heart was healed and now I want to be able to heal others,” he said. Read more.