The 17yearold, who was born with the rare Ivemark syndrome, was announced as this year's winner of the city's Young Achiever Award at Wyndham's Australia Day celebrations yesterday.

Ivemark syndrome is a terminal heart and lung condition where internal organs form incorrectly or are missing.

When she was just three days old, Royal Children's Hospital doctors said Rosalind would not make it through the night, and then beyond her first birthday.

She is the only Australian with the condition to survive beyond the age of two.

Rosalind's syndrome is too complex for a heart and lung transplant and she is now almost exclusively confined to a wheelchair.

But Rosalind has refused to let the condition dominate her life, and has channelled her energies into her greatest passion – animals and the environment.

"Around this area, she knows families not by their name, but by their dogs," her mother Merryn said.

"She never complains, or uses her condition as an excuse, she's always looking ahead to tomorrow."

Now in palliative care, Rosalind has sores all over her body because of her blood's low oxygen saturation levels, but she chooses not to rely on an oxygen tank.

Her energy levels can get so low she spends some days in bed watching wildlife documentaries, as her heart beats either too fast or too slow.

Rosalind's blood pressure can drop so much she becomes dizzy, while she has also fought back after complications from the flu and a cardiac collapse.

However, she hasn't let these obstacles get in her way.

In 2007, Rosalind designed and produced a calendar featuring drawings of dogs. The calendar raised more

than $14,000, of which $10,000 went towards building a new hospital for injured animals at the Jirrahlinga

Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary in Barwon Heads. The hospital has since been renamed Rosalind's Animal Recovery Centre.