She had no family history of heart disease and almost no warning.

Scarlett’s heart failure was hidden until she was 10 years old, and then the signs started to appear.

At first, a doctor told the teen was told “it was just anxiety” behind her breathlessness and fatigue. However, further tests revealed something worse – the walls of her heart were thickening.

Scarlett had back to back cardiac arrests at 13. One lasted 40 minutes, proving almost fatal and leaving doctors unsure if the once-keen dancer would survive.

With Scarlett on life support and at risk of brain damage, her parents were faced with an agonising choice.

They could say goodbye forever or wait 14 days, hoping against all odds for a heart donor without knowing what condition their daughter could wake up in.

On day eight, they found a donor and Scarlett – now 18 – is at university. She is studying nursing, something she describes as her  “dream job”.

“The nurses really helped me during that time,” she said. “I don’t think I’d be here without the nurses beside me.”

With nine Australians dying and 170 being hospitalised every day with heart disease, experts urgeg anyone who has trouble with exercise or normal activity and fatigue to see a doctor.

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