Iowa Girl Spreads Christmas Joy While Waiting in Hospital for Life-Saving Heart Transplant (Exclusive)

Ava Weitl, 11, has spent the last three months away from home in the hospital, but she’s not the type to sit around and grieve

This year, young Ava Weitl will not be home for Christmas.

As her heart deteriorates, Ava, 11, can no longer live with her family in Iowa and has spent the past three months waiting for a life-saving donation at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

“Sometimes I’m depressed, but I like to think on the bright side,” Ava tells PEOPLE exclusively. “Once I get my new heart, I’ll be able to play basketball and I’ll be able to do what I love… Even though I can’t do it yet, I will one day.”

Strong Ava, who dreams of becoming a surgeon and traveling the world, is not one to sit back and complain. The active pre-teen stays busy by serving as a friend and mentor to other children in treatment. She is also a Lifetime Ambassador and Children’s Correspondent for ChildServe, a healthcare organization that helps children with complex medical needs.

Ava Weitl with her Christmas tree.

Courtesy of ChildServe

Sometimes it’s not cancer that scares kids, but other issues, like taking care of 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,” says Ava. “Even if you can’t do it now, things will change.”

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After she was discharged from the hospital last July, Ava’s family hoped that she would be able to stay at home at least during the holidays. But it wasn’t like that.

“We thought we would have a lot more time at home, but we only had about six weeks,” mom Christina Deshaw tells PEOPLE. “They said she had to stay here until she was given the gift of life so they could monitor her medication. Ava is quite an active, social child so being in the hospital is not a dream come true for her.”

Ava, center, with her mom Christina Deshaw, dad Brad Weitl and brothers Miles, left, and twin Aiden, right.

Courtesy of ChildServe

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that about 1,025 babies in the United States are born each year with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a rare congenital heart defect in which the left side of the baby’s heart is severely underdeveloped and cannot pump an adequate supply of blood throughout the body .

Unlike her other hospital stays, there’s no timeline here for Ava. It could be weeks—or months.

Hearts are hard to come by, but Ava and Deshaw are nothing but optimistic about her chances of getting one soon so she can be back with her entire family, including dad Brad Weitle, her twin brother Aiden and little brother Miles, 7.

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Although her twin brother Aiden was not 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,” says Deshaw. “It is the rarest and most severe heart defect. So we are one of only a handful of families in the country to have two with HLHS.”

Although he didn’t have the same lung complications as Ava, Miles underwent three open-heart surgeries by the time he was 3 years old. Fortunately, he is fine now.

Baby Ava after surgery.

Courtesy of ChildServe

Deshaw says ChildServe helped the family navigate the medical path and provided support from the start.

One of Ava’s favorite events at ChildServe is the Bubble Ball, an annual gala party that includes a bubble wrap fashion show. Last year, the event raised more than $1 million.

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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 my friends and for them to dress up and drink their Shirley Temples and dance for them to be with Ava to report, that was a really big light,” her mom says.

Bubble Ball friends, from left to right, Emily Malone, Ava, Maddax Peterson and Laney Opsal.

Courtesy of ChildServe

As Ava helps lift the spirits of other children at the hospital, she finds encouragement by talking to other children, including Carter, 12, who has already had a successful transplant.

After so many surgeries and so many hospital stays, Ava wondered if the transplant would allow her to live the life she wanted.

“He’s post-transplant and he said he can play basketball and all the things he likes to do that he couldn’t before the transplant,” says Ava. “So it really gives me hope that instead of nothing changing, it will make a difference.”

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