When Isabella Korbi came into this world the odds were well and truly stacked against her.
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At 20 weeks gestation it was revealed Isabella’s heart had formed on the right hand side of her body with the organ containing two chambers instead of four in a condition known as dextro cardiomyopathy.
As a result Isabella’s parents were advised to terminate the pregnancy. They refused.
“The doctors said Isabella might not make it so they presented us with the option of terminating the pregnancy,” Isabella’s mother, Tina Thomas, said. “But we knew that if she was meant to be here then she would make it and she did. She proved everybody wrong.”
Since birth Isabella, 12, of Metford, has undergone two bypasses, one at 18 months and another at five years.
“I get breathless quite easily and I can’t do a lot of sport but I can dance which I love,” she said.
More recently Isabella has started researching her condition and is on a mission to find other young people battling the same condition.
“There are plenty of heart condition’s out there but Isabella’s is quite rare so it has been hard to find someone else like her,” Isabella’s father Samy Korbi said.
“So, Isabella is on a bit of a quest to find someone with her specific condition so she doesn’t feel so alone.”
Isabella’s story – and those of other children living with a heart condition – will be shared during a fundraising dinner for the organisation HeartKids.
The event “Zipper Warriors” will be held at Belmont 16 Footers on Saturday, February 23.
For more information email Rebecca Johnson at babyethan@live.com.au or phone 0411 441 857.