BACK in December 2020, the Hamilton Spectator ran a front-page story on how a simple smart watch helped save the life of former local, Lexie Northcott who, as a 15-year-old was gifted the smartwatch by her parents for her birthday.

Unbeknownst to Lexie and her parents, Keith, and Karla Northcott, she was suffering from a blocked heart that meant her heart rate was dangerously low.

Once she started to wear the watch, she noticed that it emitted a vibration and let her know that she had a low heart rate which the family put down to her high level of fitness.

Finally, after the vibrations continued even after strenuous exercise that should have seen Lexie’s heart rate soar past 100 beats per minute, the family decided to have her checked out.

She was first admitted to the Royal Childrens Hospital for tests and Karla then decided to check Lexie into the Cabrini Hospital and after the monitors “beeped out of control” Lexie was seen by Professor Peter Kistler, one of Australia’s leading cardiologists.

It was determined that after a week of tests Lexie required a pacemaker as “the only option’ as they don’t want to use pacemakers on people of Lexie’s age if they don’t have too.

At the time the story appeared in the Hamilton Spectator it then led to Lexie’s tale appearing in the Herald Sun and across television too.

Apple contacted the family six months ago to see if they would appear in an ad that would tell the story and the family agreed.

“We were prepared to do anything that would hopefully help others from having to go through what we did,” Karla said.

The ad was filmed in the Macedon Ranges at Hanging Rock in January of this year, where Lexie’s story is quickly retold and how the watch helped save her life.

The campaign kicked off last Sunday on national television and will run for the next four weeks across the world where her story was told on television, social media platforms and here in Australia in Telstra stores.

“It was a 39 (degrees Celsius) day and we were told not to look hot or sweat,” Karla laughed.

“The ad is a powerful story of how the watch is not just a gadget but can help save a life.

“Keith and I cannot conceive of how our life would be now if we hadn’t given Lexie that watch for her birthday.”

Lexie is now at university in Melbourne and is back playing high level sport as a member of the Melbourne Cricket Club hockey teams.

With her entire family all being tested to ensure they too didn’t have the same health issues that she had; Lexie was thankfully the only extended family member who suffered from it.