Heart patient ready for star turn with Ferns

Starship patient Emily Domett will be the ball girl at the Silver Ferns vs Australian Diamonds game next week. Photo / Dean Purcell

At age 5, Emily Domett was already a two-time veteran of open heart surgery.

But today, there is little sign besides a tiny scar on the 9-year-old's chest of just how close to death she was after falling asleep in class one day.

Now, that experience has given the keen netballer an opportunity she would never have had otherwise - the chance to be a ball girl at next week's Silver Ferns vs Diamonds match.

It's not the first time the St Dominic's Blockhouse Bay schoolgirl has met a Silver Fern, but it's the first time she will get to go on court with the players and chat with them after the game.

She was chosen as part of Starship's Five Star partner New World's initiative giving children like Emily some "money-can't-buy" experiences.

Her wide smile and big nod when asked how special it felt to be chosen said it all.

Emily has been playing netball for her school, coached by her mother, for the past three years.

She watches games with her mum and is a particular fan of star mid-courter Laura Langham "because she never gives up and because she played 100 games in a row for New Zealand".

Looking at the petite young netballer kitted out in her sky blue sporting gear, ready for her moment to shine on court, you would never guess that four years ago she was so sick she needed to go under the knife - twice.

Her mother, Susan, said within two days she went from having a healthy 5-year-old to one in need of life-saving surgery.

She was taken to hospital after she was drowsy and fell asleep while at school. An ultrasound revealed Emily had an infection in her heart which had eaten away almost two-thirds of a valve.

She underwent an initial surgery to repair the valve, followed by another one three weeks later after a follow-up scan revealed it was at risk of rupture.

"It was clearly the most traumatic thing you've ever been through," Ms Domett said.

"You have three healthy children one day and the next you have a critically ill one who might not make it through the night. The trauma for me doesn't go away."

Mrs Domett said the support from hospital staff, such as the nurses and play specialists, was critical to making the traumatic time and Emily's recovery easier.

Emily remembers little of what it was like to be so sick.

"For her she fell asleep and she woke up post open-heart surgery," Ms Domett said.

Emily has routine cardiac checkups but has recovered well from the infection.