There are few physical activities that are more demanding than being a distance runner in a highly competitive atmosphere. To be succinct: It takes heart, and lots of it.

Fortunately for Frontier Academy student-athlete Isaiah Broce, his heart is immeasurable.

When Broce decided to be a distance runner a handful of years ago, it was his heart that was the biggest question mark.

Broce, 18, was born a month early, with half a heart.

When his mother, Jillian, was 20 weeks pregnant, doctors told her Isaiah had a condition called hypoplastic right heart syndrome. It’s a rare defect that prevents the right side of a baby’s heart from fully forming during pregnancy.

Doctors told Jillian that Isaiah was going to be able to do nothing but lie around all day.

By the time Isaiah was in elementary school, simply lying around simply wasn’t an option. That’s when Isaiah first decided to lace up a pair of running shoes and compete against other finely tuned athletes, ultimately leading to him competing in the most mettle-tested of races offered at the grade-school levels: 5K runs in cross country as well as mile and 2-mile runs in track.

Isaiah began running as part of a semi-competitive elementary school track program.

Jillian recalls that when Isaiah began middle school, she and Isaiah’s father, Eric, told Isaiah he needed to participate in an extracurricular of his choice.

“And, out of everything he could do at school, he chose running,” Jillian said.

He competed all four years in high school cross country and track.

Isaiah was born without a pump in his heart to send blood to his lungs. He received a Fontan completion, an open-heart surgical procedure that disconnects blood vessels that would normally send oxygen-poor blood back to the heart before going to the lungs. The Fontan procedure bypasses the heart and connects the vessels directly to the lungs to receive oxygen. Oxygen-rich blood is then pumped to the rest of the body like normal.

Isaiah had a series of surgeries at Children’s Hospital Colorado during the first five years of his life. The first surgery took place when he was just two days old. He’ll eventually need an intervention or a heart transplant but perhaps not until his mid-adult years.

Remarkably, he hasn’t let any of that slow him down.

“I don’t really think it bothers me anymore,” Isaiah said of the rare, serious condition with which he was born.

Isaiah wasn’t always as active as he is today.

“Before his last surgery (when he was nearly 5), he couldn’t even walk up our stairs,” Jillian said. “He would have to sit down and recover. He probably doesn’t remember all that. He would play, then he would have to sit down. He couldn’t keep up with the kids at school.”

Despite those early struggles, Jillian and Eric never talked to Isaiah about the things he, theoretically, could not do. It helps that ever since he was a mere child, Isaiah has been extremely self-motivated.

Isaiah’s love of running has even resulted in him needing fewer medical procedures than what many patients his age would require. His heart is becoming stronger on its own, and, of course, with the aid of his budding running career.

Much of Isaiah’s ability to be this active was aided by an at-home telemedicine program called Heart Chargers, created by Children’s Hospital Colorado doctor Roni Jacobsen.

“Some of the data literature showed that exercise may be just as good as some of the medicines that we’re using on these patients,” Jacobsen said. “That’s where the whole idea got started.”

Heart Chargers provides year-long, individualized exercise prescriptions to patients.

Isaiah’s program was built to include aerobic and cardiac activities that would help condition his heart, lungs, respiratory muscle strength and skeletal muscle strength to participate in strenuous distance running events.

Isaiah began the program right as he started high school cross country.

“I think that was perfect timing,” Isaiah said. “I had a hospital visit and (high school) coaches pushing me at the same time. So I think having gone through (Heart Chargers) really helped me get started.”

Isaiah was given a wristwatch-like Garmin activity monitor that allowed Jacobsen and her colleagues at Children’s Hospital to keep tabs on Isaiah while he participated in regular physical workouts.

The program, which was launched November 2018, was even somewhat pandemic-proof, because the at-home, telemedicine design allows patients to complete almost all of the program from home.

That said, the staff at Children’s Hospital has been quite hands-on with aiding much of the incredible progress Isaiah has made over the years.

“They had (physical) challenges where the doctors would also participate,” Jillian said. “Isaiah would always beat them, by a lot.”

Isaiah is the oldest of Jillian and Eric’s three children. Isaiah has a younger sister, Olivia, who is 13. His younger brother, Lucas, is 10.

Isaiah’s heroics on cross country courses and on the track have inspired his sister, Olivia, to begin running cross country.

“She is already at my speed now,” Isaiah said. “She’s going to be really fast. … It’s really nice. I can’t wait to watch (Olivia and Lucas) when they’re in high school.”

Isaiah refuses to view himself as a victim.

“I didn’t really see myself as being any different,” Isaiah said. “I didn’t even really understand (my condition) until I was much older and I joined cross country and saw that I was a bit behind.”

Now, Isaiah is in fact different, but in ways that most young men entering adulthood aspire to be.

Isaiah plans to study at Aims Community College. He would like to continue running after high school, with hopes of one day competing in a marathon or a triathlon.

“When he puts his mind to something, he accomplishes it...,” Eric said. “I feel like the sky is the limit for him after high school. I’m excited to see what he’s going to do.”