Diagnosed with Tachycardia in 2007, a rare arrhythmia condition in which her heart beats up to twice the normal rate, Madi finally looks to be winning her battle.
“Her last operation was a success but we have to be diligent going forward and that means she has to go back to the specialist every six months for tests,” Archer told kangaroos.com.au.
“When they found out what was wrong, her heart was beating at about 150 to 160 beats per minute even when she was resting.”
Madi, now 15, has been able to return to playing sport for the first time in years and leads a relatively normal life once again. But for so many others, it’s a much different story.
In 2011, Sydney co-captain Jarrad McVeigh and his wife Clementine lost their baby girl Luella to a serious heart condition a month after she was born.
''She's touched a lot of people here at the club, a lot of people who never met her, even though she was here for only a short time,'' McVeigh said recently.
''There was a little spirit in her that everyone who saw her could feel. She was a very strong little girl. She went through a lot of trauma with four operations and kept fighting back [but] it came to a point where there was nothing anyone could do.''
This week, McVeigh will join forces with Archer at the SCG when the Kangaroos play the Swans, to raise awareness and money for HeartKids.
“I’ll be there to hand the HeartKids Cup over to the winning captain at the end of the game,” Archer said.
Childhood Heart Disease (CHD), is one of the most common birth abnormalities affecting one in 100 children.
More than 2,000 Australian children born with CHD every year.
“It is one of the greatest killers of children under the age of one,” Archer, a HeartKids ambassador, explained.
“Every week, around four kids in Australia will die from it. We need to raise more awareness and that’s why the work the HeartKids organisation does is so important.”
HeartKids is a charity solely focused on supporting families who have a child with heart disease and reducing the incidence of CHD.
Archer urged all footy fans to support the charity in finding a cure for childhood heart disease.
Facts about Childhood Heart Disease
• Six babies are born every day with Childhood Heart Disease (CHD)
• Around 32,000 children are currently living with CHD in Australia
• Childhood Heart Disease is one of the greatest causes of infant death under the age of one
• Four Australians die each week from congenital heart disease
• Children can acquire heart disease from infections and other illnesses such as rheumatic fever and Kawasaki Disease (200+ p.a.)
For more information visit www.heartkidsvic.org.au
