Ava Weitl, 11, with her signature slogan.Photo:Courtesy of ChildServe
Courtesy of ChildServe
This year, young Ava Weitl won’t be home forChristmas.
As her heart deteriorates, Ava, 11, can no longer live with her family in Iowa and has spent the last three months waiting for a life-saving donation at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic Hospital.
“Sometimes I’m depressed, but I like to think on the bright side,” Ava exclusively tells PEOPLE. “Once I get my new heart, I’ll be able to play basketball and I’ll be able to do what I like to do…Even though I can’t do it yet, I’ll be able to do it someday.”
Ava Weitl with her Christmas tree.Courtesy of ChildServe
Sometimes it isn’t the cancer that scares kids, but other issues, like caring for their PICC lines — and that’s where Ava steps in, helping them with practical advice as well as boosting their morale.
“I tell the kids, never give up. No matter what it is, you can do it,” Ava says. “Even if you can’t do it now, things will change.”
After she was released from a hospital stay last July, Ava’s family hoped she could stay home at least through the holidays. But that wasn’t to be.
“We thought we’d get a lot longer time at home, but we only got about six weeks,” Mom Christina Deshaw tells PEOPLE. “They said she had to stay here until she gets her gift of life so they can monitor her medications. Ava’s a pretty active, social kid so being stuck in the hospital is not her dream come true.”
Ava, center, with her mom Christina Deshaw, dad Brad Weitl and brothers Miles, left, and twin Aiden, right.Courtesy of ChildServe
Unlike her other hospital stays, there is no timeline here for Ava. It could be weeks — or months.
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Although her twin brother Aiden wasn’t born with the same heart defect as his sister, her brother Miles was.
“It’s extremely rare to have two with hypoplastic left heart syndrome,” Deshaw says. “It’s the most rare and severe heart defect. So we’re one of a handful of families in the nation that have two with HLHS.”
Deshaw says ChildServe has helped the family from the start to navigate the medical waters and provide support.
One of Ava’s favorite ChildServe events is the Bubble Ball, an annual gala featuring a runway show with designs made from bubble wrap. Last year, the event raised over $1 million.
This year’s Ball took place after Ava was put on the transplant list and Deshaw says she was feeling a little nervous and down. Or at least she was until she got on the dance floor.
“Being able to go to the Bubble Ball with her friends and for them to get dressed up and drink their Shirley Temples and dance for them to be with Ava to do her reporting, that was a really big bright light,” her mom says.
Bubble Ball pals, from left to right, Emily Malone, Ava, Maddax Peterson and Laney Opsal.Courtesy of ChildServe
While Ava helps boost the spirits of other children at the hospital, she gets her spirits lifted from talking to other kids, including Carter, 12, who has already had a successful transplant.
After so many surgeries and so many hospital stays, Ava has wondered if her transplant will allow her to live the life she wants.
“He’s post-transplant and said he is able to play basketball and all the things he likes to do that he couldn’t before transplant,” Ava says. “So that really gives me a hope that instead of nothing is going to change, it will make a difference.”
source: people.com
