Sylvia Jeffreys: 'Why Madeline Stuart is the Aussie model to watch'

It’s been three years since I last saw Madeline Stuart, but when I arrive at her home on the semi-rural outskirts of Brisbane, she greets me at the front door with open arms and a big embrace. 

With comfort and authority, she welcomes our crew into the living room and leads me into the kitchen where she flips through the pages of a magazine until it lands open on a Madeline Stuart profile. 

Maddy’s photograph is stunning. Her expression is strong. And the accompanying words outline the 22-year-old’s M.O. as an advocate for inclusiveness and diversity in modelling.  

I’m struck by the confidence she’s shown from the moment I walked through the door.

When we first met in 2015, Maddy was stepping up for her first professional photo shoot in a Brisbane warehouse. She was shy and cautious in the presence of new people. She was an 18-year-old with Down Syndrome on the cusp of something big.

Over the last few years, she’s walked Fashion Week runways in New York, Paris and London. She’s appeared on countless magazine covers and taken bookings from Jakarta to Milan. She’s been in demand and changed the game.   

I’m also struck by a large scar on Maddy’s chest. It’s the only sign of the terrifying ordeal she and her mother, Rosanne have just endured.

Just days before Christmas, Maddy was forced into open heart surgery. One of her valves was failing and if it wasn’t fixed, it would prove fatal. 

Rosanne describes this as the worst day of her life. The bond she shares with her only daughter is impossible to articulate but on this day she feared it would be broken for good.  

Complications in the days after the operation added to Rosanne’s angst and her fears wouldn’t subside until they finally went home after 26 long days in hospital.

Rosanne has opened up to A Current Affair about the impossible choice she was forced to make on Maddy’s behalf, the hardest 26 days of her life, and how their beautiful bond is now stronger than ever.   

You can see the full story tonight at 7pm.