From her hospital bed, Scarlett’s larger-than-life personality brightens the room. Surrounded by her stuffed toy pandas, colouring pages, and face paint across her forehead, she’s the very picture of a spirited six-year-old.
But Scarlett’s story is very different from most of her peers. Scarlett has undergone five heart surgeries at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in just six years.
Scarlett was born with multiple severe and complex congenital heart defects and underwent her first open-heart surgery at four weeks old.
In 2020, she underwent a second open-heart surgery, during which doctors discovered several additional Ventricular Septal Defects (VSDs), adding to the complexity of the surgery.
During this time, Scarlett required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support, a machine that temporarily takes over the heart's function by oxygenating the blood.
“We spent 108 days in hospital after Scarlett went on to ECMO,” Scarlett’s mum, Ash, said.
“During that stay, she underwent a third surgery, which thankfully saved her life.
“She was such a strong baby, such a fighter, and she made a recovery that even our surgeons weren’t expecting,” she said.
Scarlett finally returned to her Gold Coast home and to life as a mischievous toddler.
In early 2025, Scarlett returned to QCH for another surgery to prepare her for a full repair heart surgery.
In January 2026, the full repair surgery was a success.
“I feel so proud and have been blown away by how resilient she is,” Ash said.
“This has been such a long journey, but Scarlett has never stopped smiling or bringing joy to everyone around her.”
“She has loved having her face painted in the Starlight room and loves requesting the song ‘Golden’ from the KPop Demon Hunters movie.”
“You would have no idea that she is recovering from such an intense surgery.”
“We are incredibly grateful to her clinical team, who have fought for her the whole way, even when her prognosis was not looking great.”
“Hopefully, we won’t need to be back for treatment now for another 8 to 10 years,” Ash said.
Scarlett is looking forward to doing gymnastics, going to school and playing with her pets Rumi and Glitch.