Telethon 2025: Meet Hemi Andrews, the boy with half a heart who lives with twice the courage

Five-year-old Hemi Andrews lives with half a heart, but her proud family will tell you that she also lives with boundless courage, love, curiosity and joy.

And their miracle child’s strength in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, including six open-heart surgeries, taught them the meaning of gratitude, perseverance, and perspective.

“While he may seem like the happiest little boy in the world right now, the truth is Hemi’s future is completely unknown,” his mother Brooke English told The West Australian.

“Yet somehow, through it all, he continues to smile, laugh, and love life with all his heart, and then some.”

Behind the scar running down the middle of his chest, Hemi’s brave, fragile heart continues to beat despite everything.

Hemi is a gorgeous, funny and playful little boy who loves going to kindergarten at Ellenbrook Primary School when he’s good enough, makes his family laugh with his sense of humor and adores his dad, Robin Andrews.

Hemi was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome; This means that the left side of his heart is too small to pump enough blood to the body.

The congenital heart defect was detected after Brooke was hospitalized with severe blood loss at 22 weeks.

As Brooke, Robin and their daughters Aaliyah and Melanie grappled with the life-changing news, they had to move from Perth to Brisbane before Hemi was born so Hemi could undergo special life-saving heart surgery.

“We were given the option of terminating the pregnancy, but we decided to go ahead with the surgeries to save her life. Everyone got on board, the whole family got together and said, ‘How can we make this work?'” Brooke said.

“We were really determined. We said, ‘If he was happy to fight, we would fight alongside him,’ and we’ve done that ever since.”

This battle included six harrowing open-heart surgeries and devastating complications such as pulmonary hypertension, tricuspid valve regurgitation, and right ventricular failure. Hemi’s parents, whose hearts are heavy with fear, grief and love as they endure all this, say his strength has helped them.

“Our little boy has faced some really bad medical interventions, surgeries and procedures,” Brooke said.

“As much as we wanted him to have a choice over the years, he accepted that wasn’t the case and he took a deep breath and made it easier for the soldiers.”

Hemi was born on March 20, 2020, the day borders closed at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, leaving the family far from their loved ones during the most difficult time of their lives.

He was immediately taken away to receive medication that would keep him alive until his first open-heart surgery when he was only five days old; it’s a 10-hour Sano shunt procedure that effectively realigns the heart and provides a path for blood to flow to the lungs for oxygen.

“(After the first surgery) he was on life support, his chest was still open, so I could see his heart beating on clear film and I can’t even explain everything he was on, it was a scary sight for a five-day-old baby,” Brooke recalled.

“We were so grateful that he came out the other side because we were told how risky the surgery would be. But ultimately it wasn’t the smooth sailing we were hoping for. (The stay in Brisbane) was honestly one of the hardest times we’ve ever had.”

The surgery is one of three planned open-heart surgeries that HLHS patients undergo in the first five years of life to ensure effective blood pumping to the right chamber.

Hemi’s family didn’t know it at the time, but he would need three more surgeries.

A planned four-month stay in Brisbane turned into almost 10 months when Hemi developed pulmonary hypertension and the oxygen saturation in his blood dropped to a critically low level of 50 percent.

The condition led to heart failure when he was just five months old, prompting surgeons to make the rare, risky decision to reopen his chest and insert a second shunt.

“After the second surgery, he was very, very sick and we couldn’t stabilize him,” Brooke recalled.

Hemi was nine months old and had yet to feel the sun on his face or see the sky for the first time when doctors told his parents it was time to return to WA and prepare for the unimaginable.

“We came home to Perth for end-of-life palliative care because we were told there was nothing more we could do and that he wouldn’t survive past a certain age with his current blood circulation,” Brooke recalled.

But when they returned home, Hemi slowly showed signs of recovery as the family embraced the love and support of the village they missed so much.

In September 2021, when Hemi was 18 months old, he was able to undergo his second scheduled heart surgery at Perth Children’s Hospital.

Bidirectional cavo-pulmonary junction surgery was a major milestone the family thought they would never see.

“I think coming back to Perth is exactly what we all needed, I really think coming back to Perth is the reason Hemi was able to undergo the surgery we were told he would never be able to do,” his mother said.

In the four years since, Hemi and his self-described “deceptive heart” have endured brutal setbacks, including the failure of his tricuspid valve, which helps blood flow in the right direction.

He underwent open-heart surgery once again in early 2024 to repair the valve, but it failed four days later and the surgery had to be repeated.

“The longevity of his repairs and surgeries wasn’t great, his body wouldn’t accept it every time and took a circuitous route to deal with it, introducing other problems,” Brooke said.

If the valve fails again, Hemi may need a mechanical valve and possibly a heart transplant in the future, further complicated by lung problems.

But they remain ‘if’.

Like all parents whose children live with lifelong, life-threatening conditions, the family has had to adjust to living with uncertainty.

In doing so, they tap into the power of Hemi and approach life with optimism, perseverance and acceptance, just as their precious sons do.

“She’s always proving everyone wrong and we hope she continues to do that. I’m incredibly proud of her for fighting so hard and still enjoying her life like any other little five-year-old,” Brooke said.

“He continues to prove that he won’t let anything get in his way.”

The last of the three planned surgeries, known as Fontan’s completion, took place at PCH shortly after Hemi’s fifth birthday.

He currently takes medication three times a day to treat hypertension, and his blood oxygen saturation remains low; It hovers around 80 percent, compared to the normal range of 95 to 100 percent.

But she joins the children with great enthusiasm and plays regularly with her older sisters and local children at a playground near the family’s home in Brabham; To reassure her parents, she is being cautious here and knows her limits.

When the West Australian visited Hemi at home this week, he proudly displayed a special gift from long-standing Telethon beneficiary HeartKids, which provides much-needed support to WA families affected by childhood heart disease.

Hemi’s red string HeartKids bag contains 266 tiny beads; little disco balls, dolphins, stars and “look, a pink smiling heart” — one of her favorites.

Each bead represents a surgery or procedure Hemi underwent during his time in Brisbane. Brooke struggles to think how many she could have had now, almost four years later.

These little treasures, little reminders of how much he’s endured and how far he’s come, exemplify the thought and care the charity provides to families.

“The HeartKids Foundation brings hope, connection, and support when it’s needed most. It ensures Hemi is there for kids who can relate, because no one knows what it’s like to have those scars on your chest at school.”

Like every parent, Brooke’s dream is to see her children grow up to achieve their own goals.

“Hemi’s father is his idol and if he gets the chance to grow up like him, I’m sure I can’t wait to see him realize his dreams behind the wheel of a truck,” he said.

He doesn’t know what the future will bring, but he’s approaching it with one of the greatest gifts Hemi’s journey has given him.

“When you live in the ICU for nearly 10 months, you leave with a lot of perspective,” he said.

“We are struggling and the uncertainty can be very disorienting, but I remind myself that he is still here, we have to bring our son home and we are so grateful for that.

“We are so grateful to Telethon, HeartKids, surgeons, and hospitals…the awareness, research, and care they make possible gives children like Hemi a fighting chance – a chance to live, grow, and continue to show the world how powerful a little heart can be.”