For the Boxing Day Test at MCG against India, Australian cricket team had a new member in their squad, who turned 7 on 22nd December 2018, co-captained alongside Tim Paine at BUPA Family Day at Yarra Park.
Seven-year-old Archie Schiller was delivered the good news by Captain Tim Paine.
Fans thronged Yarra Park for the grand Indian Summer Festival happening in Melbourne. The two captains pose with the Border-Gavaskar trophy at the event #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/BkY2Kd0l2O
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 23, 2018
Adding to all this, Nathan Lyon (Australian cricketer) called Archie and insisted him to come to a post-training debrief (mandatory for all squad members).
There he surprised Archie, giving him a gift of his own personal set of cricket whites that the entire team signed – Archie’s toothless smile could have been seen from the moon!
His heart condition was first diagnosed when he was just 3 months old and underwent his first surgery which was for 7 hours.
Six months later, irregular rhythms of Archie’s bravely beating heart endured a second attack.
Last December, those measures showed signs of failing.
Archie’s family ventured to Melbourne for his 3rd open-heart surgery and faced the reality that they risked returning home losing their son.
Paine said, “Clearly Arch has been through a really hard period. When his dad asked him what he wanted to do, he said ‘I want to captain Australia’.
All this has been made possible through “Make-A-Wish Australia” organization which creates unforgettable experiences for seriously ill kids and learned Archie’s conditions and aspirations when he prepared for his most recent operation.
