Heart's content at sky-high ride
THIS youngster has been on a roller-coaster ride all his life.
Yesterday he got the ride he's always wanted, flying over the Cairns Show in a chopper for 10 minutes.
See our Cairns Show picture gallery.
Ten-year-old Jonathon Johnson, from Yarrabah, was born with a hole in his heart.
Dubbed the "little fighter" by his mum, Darlene Bounghi, Jonathon had his first operation at two weeks old. As he grew older, he needed more surgery to repair the hole.
"When he was about eight months old he had a pacemaker inserted but one year later his aorta played up," Ms Bounghi said.
"He's sick all the time but he's a tough little boy."
Ms Bounghi said if her son missed his medication it could become a matter of life or death.
"He can't go home and run around like normal kids do because he will become sick and is likely to drop dead," she said.
Jonathon is back at Cairns Base Hospital this week after a stay at the Mater Children's Hospital in Brisbane.
Children's ward nurse manager Caroline Witter said: "Heart problems prevent him from doing what other normal 10-year-olds would do but he takes it in his stride and copes well."
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Back to earth: It was thumbs up when Jonathon Johnson, 10, touched down after his 10-minute chopper ride over the Cairns Show.
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