We’re proud to introduce four-year-old Arielle as the face of the 2018 Good Friday Appeal.

When you are around Arielle, you can’t help but smile – she’s bright, bubbly, and full of energy. It’s hard to imagine that her parents were once getting ready to say goodbye to her forever.

During her mother Genevieve’s final weeks of pregnancy in 2013, doctors noticed there were issues with Arielle’s heart. Two weeks later, Arielle entered the world and was immediately transferred to The Royal Children’s Hospital.

After multiple rigorous tests, it was revealed that the left side of Arielle’s heart wasn’t functioning. Genevieve and her husband Carl were told to prepare for the worst.

At eight days old, it became clear that Arielle wasn’t going to recover and the cardiac team at The Royal Children’s Hospital made a bold decision to fit her with a Berlin Heart, a mechanical cardiac support system that supports children with severe heart failure. A child that young, at just over a week old, had never been fitted with such a device in Australia, but thanks to the life-saving decision, the Berlin Heart supported Arielle for her first few months of life, and allowed her to be one of the youngest recipients of a heart transplant at just five-months-old.

Watch her inspiring story below.

To support this year’s Good Friday Appeal visit goodfridayappeal.com.au.