It was the terrifying beginning to 2019 for Corowa's Talbot family.

When Abby Talbot was 37 weeks pregnant her and husband Steven were told something "wasn't right".

"We went in for a growth scan to just see how big the bub was going to be and it quickly became very scary," Mrs Talbot said.

"I went straight down to the Mercy in Melbourne and he was diagnosed with Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage.

"TAPVD is a very rare congenital heart disease and is not normally picked up in utero."

Total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage is a rare congenital malformation in which all four pulmonary veins do not connect normally to the left atrium.

Instead the four pulmonary veins drain abnormally to the right atrium by way of an abnormal connection.

Ollie was so sick when he was born the surgeons had to act quickly to save his life.

"Normally the longer they wait to do the surgery the better but when Ollie was born he was quite sick and they had to do it on day three," Mrs Talbot said.

Two weeks later he was at home in Corowa with his parents and big brother Judd.

But Mrs Talbot said those days were the hardest they have ever know.

"We were allowed to go home for Christmas before going back to the Mercy to give birth to Ollie by cesarean straight afterwards," she said.

"I got to give him a quick cuddle before he was taken straight to the Royal Children's Hospital.

"This was a horrible time because I had to stay in the Mercy for 48 hours and Ollie was taken away.

"I was not only in a different place, three hours from home, but my very sick newborn son was in a different hospital."

The staff at the Royal Children's Hospital were "outstanding from the ground up" Mrs Talbot said.

"The nurses let me ring his room whenever I wanted to check in and see how he was," she said.

"I got a day pass to go see him before his surgery and the nurses took 10 minutes to disconnect him from all the cords so I could hold him.

"But nothing was an issue and they were more than happy to do that for me which is incredible."

Once Ollie was recovered from his surgery the Talbots could bring him home.

"When he was born everything was about his illness," Mrs Talbot said.

"So when he was healthy enough to bring home those first few days were a bit daunting but it was such a relief to get him home and his big brother could give him a cuddle."

Good Friday now holds a special place in the Talbot's heart and they are calling on everyone to donate.

"Every year we donated but this year we were on the receiving end and it really hit home how important the Royal Children's Hospital is," Mrs Talbot said.

"Without the staff there we wouldn't have our happy little boy.

"Donate what you can for all the children.

"If they do get sick that is where you want them to go, all children need this hospital."

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