Six-year-old Auckland girl ticks snow off wish list as heart surgery awaits – Stuff.co.nz

Sharon Wheat

Alexi Wheats family took her to see the snow for the first time as the date of a surgery to repair the nine-tear-olds heart approaches.

The family of agirl with a rare heart condition are making sure shes done all the thingsshe wants to do before her bigoperation.

Alexi Wheatalways wanted to see the snow, but herchronic illnessmeantcold placeswere always the hardestfor her to travel to.

Last week her parents Sharon and Craig Wheat decided to take her to MtRuapehu, so she could see the snow forthefirsttime.

BEVAN READ/stuff.co.nz

New Zealander Caitlin Allington was diagnosed with a similar condition which causes blockage in the artery between the heart and the lung. She has taken a role as an ambassador to make other people aware of what to look for.

"The skiseason had finished but we took the last gondola up.There was thislittle patch andthe kids just played in the snow," Sharon said.

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"The fact that we finally got there and just to see her sohappy was amazing."

The south Auckland primary schoolstudent wasdiagnosedwith pulmonary hypertension when shesuffered her first cardiac arrest at 2 years old.

Sharon Wheat

Sharon Wheat, Alexis mother, says it was amazing to see her daughter so happy and that seeing the Northern Lights is another dream of hers.

The rare condition causes arteries carrying blood from the heart to the lungs to become blocked. AsAlexi'sconditionworsens, a riskyoperation is her only option left.

In the meantime, the couple ask their daughter about all the things she wants to do.

One activity she loves is playing mini-golf.

Alexi idolises her dad who is a golfer, she takes after him. We take her to play mini-golf atevery opportunity we get, Sharon Wheat said.

Sharon Wheat

Alexi was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension after she suffered her first cardiac arrest at two-years-old.

Creating an actual bucketlist would be too final. Craig and I understand this has no cure, but Alexi doesn't. So you try to be careful with what you do, she said.

Another goal for Alexi is to see the Northern Lights, which is she familiar with from watching DavidAttenborough documentaries on Netflix.

Weve beenthinking of taking her to see the Southern Lights instead.But again,the seasons and timing make it difficult, Wheat said.

Alexis condition means shemust constantly receive a special medicineused to control blood pressure.

If she doesn't receive it for six minutes she would suffer a pulmonary hypertension crisis, which is similar to cardiac arrest, and die.

Sharon Wheat

Alexi loves playing golf, as her dad is a keen golfer, so the family have been taking her to play mini-golf at every opportunity.

The medicine is constantly fed to Alexithrough a special catheter and she carriesitin a backpack when she goes to school.

Wheat said her daughter hadto be careful not to exert herself as it could cause her to have a crisis.

"You've got to monitor her activity levels. You can't let her run. She's allowed to play with her brother, but every time they jump up it's like, 'Sit down, calm down,'," she said.

"She gets upset when we're telling her to stop running. We're getting upset. What life is this? This is not a life for her. If we can give her one shot at a normal life we have to do it."

The family has an appointment where they are likely to learn the date of the surgery on November 29.

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Six-year-old Auckland girl ticks snow off wish list as heart surgery awaits - Stuff.co.nz