Schoolgirl Scarlett endured two cardiac arrests and went into end stage heart failure when she was just 13. She was put on an ECMO heart-lung bypass machine and had been on life support for days when her parents were given a devastating choice; take her off life support and watch her die or wait for a heart transplant. Doctors advised that Scarlett didn’t have more than 14 days to live even on life support, but mum Amanda and dad Philip hung onto hope, even though heart transplant wait lists in Australia often have over 100 people waiting up to two years for their chance at a new life.
Despite the odds, a match was found for Scarlett eight days later, making her the first teen with end-stage heart failure to have a paediatric heart transplant at Westmead Children’s Hospital. Now 17-years-old, Scarlett is proudly sharing her story to bring awareness to the Heart Research Institute 's work and the dire need for donor organs. She’s also garnered a hefty following on Instagram sharing her stories and crochet, a hobby she picked up and mastered amid her countless hospital stays.
The Sydney teen was originally diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the walls of the heart chamber when she was just 10 after she insisted something was deeply wrong when her heart started beating fast at school . She had been showing other symptoms such as low energy and breathlessness but told the HRI her “parents just thought I was lazy”. After her diagnosis, Amanda was .
