Girl, 13, given just days to live after collapsing suddenly during dance class

13 June 2024 , 20:03

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Scarlett Hack was just 13 when she had two cardiac arrests (Image: The Heart Research Institute)

A girl given just 14 days to live after collapsing during her dance class has defied the odds to survive.

Scarlett Hack was 13 when her heart stopped suddenly and was rushed to hospital. The youngster had an internal defibrillator fitted and was sent home, but fainted again just days later while at a friend's house. She had two cardiac arrests on this occasion and had "very little chance of survival".

Scarlett remembers yelling to her dad, who saw the second cardiac arrest unfold: "Help me, help me, I don't want to die." Doctors gave Scarlett 14 days to live, during which time they said a heart donor must be found and she'd undergo a transplant, or gave her parents the option to turn off her life support instead.

But parents Philip and Amanda, from Sydney, Australia, were desperate for medics to find a donor and, eight days into the two-week period, one was discovered. Scarlett had a gruelling 12-hour operation, but the transplant was successful and she survived. Speaking to the Heart Research Institute in Australia, Amada said: "They told us we have two options: we can turn off her life support and let her die, or we can try for a heart transplant.

The youngster went into end stage heart failure and needed a transplant (The Heart Research Institute)

They said we had 14 days, otherwise Scarlett would be too far gone." Speaking to 7Life this week, Amanda added: "Every night we would cry. It was another day gone, another day without a heart." Amanda recalls herdaughter was placed on an ECMO, a machine which allows the blood to bypass the heart and lungs.

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Scarlett made a steady recovery after the operation and now, four years on, she has looked back on her ordeal to help others, including those HRI supports across Australia. "My legs were so deconditioned and I had severe nerve pain in both my legs - it's the most intense pain and burning sensation - so I had to learn how to walk and talk again," Scarlett said. "I also had to be fed by a tube through my nose because of all the trauma my body had been through - my throat kept closing up and I kept choking on food."

Scarlett has recalled her ordeal to help other young people (The Heart Research Institute)

Scarlett was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – a thickening of the walls of the heart chamber - aged 10. She had spent months getting out of breath from walking short distances and her heartbeat would speed up for seemingly no reason. Her mum, who was "in disbelief", was told: "There is no cure, I suggest you learn CPR." 

Scarlett lived a relatively normal life for the next few years, until she fell ill during the dance class. While she missed a lot of school during her recovery, she's now back to lessons and dancing. Scarlett, who has a service dog named Scout, hopes to study to become a children's nurse after her "safe and happy" experience at a children's hospital in Western Sydney.

Bradley Jolly