If it did happen, the child would be reviled for their continual smell and ostracised at school and in their local community.

In this country we are blessed with first class medical facilities but, as is well known, that's not the case in nearby nations.

In Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, children with severe congenital deformities often cannot be treated.

Canberra's Sandra Mahlberg has become something of a guardian angel for these children.

She runs Rotary's Oceanic Medical Aid for Children for the district that includes the ACT and nearby areas of NSW.

The organisation identifies children in need of surgery not available in their country, organises passports, flies them to Canberra, co-ordinates with surgeons and looks after them during their recovery.

For her humanitarian work in this field, Ms Mahlberg was this week honoured as the 2015 ACT Senior Australian of the Year.

She is now in the running for the national title, to be announced on Australia Day eve.

Rotary began the medical aid scheme in Australia and New Zealand in 1988 and since then has treated more than 350 children from nearby countries.

It spread to the ACT in 2006 when Ms Mahlberg was president of the Ginninderra Rotary Club.

"When you are president, you want to have something special in your year and that's when I asked about taking on a child under ROMAC," she says.

"When I made contact with the national committee, they told me they had a paediatric surgeon in Canberra, Associate Professor David Croaker, who was willing to take on a child at the Canberra Hospital.

"It just happened to be the right time, I think it was one of those things that was meant to be."

But this would prove to be a costly exercise when a boy was transferred from the Solomon Islands to Canberra Hospital.

"Tavaleana Bird's stomach wasn't joined to his oesophagus, he was very sick," Ms Mahlberg says.

She wasn't feeling so well when the hospital bill for $140,000 arrived, when Tava was still in intensive care which costs $4,000 a day.

"I thought, that's an awful lot of money for Rotary clubs to raise," she says.

Consequently, Ms Mahlberg and Professor Croaker made an appointment to see Dr Peggy Brown, director of the ACT Health Directorate.

"We put forward a proposal for a memorandum of understanding which went to Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, she approved the plan for up to four children a year and the government would foot the hospital bill," Ms Mahlberg says.

The most recent case in the ACT was 14-year-old Reedly Gershon from Vanuatu who was born with Hirschprung's disease, a genetic condition that causes chronic bowel blockage.

Reedly weighed just 27 kilograms when he arrived in Canberra in April this year. His abdomen was grossly distended and his growth had been severely inhibited.

Dr Croaker and his team removed a significant section of malformed bowel, along with seven kilograms of faecal matter, or almost 25 per cent of Reedly's body mass.

He will use a colostomy bag until early next year when he and his mother will return to Canberra for the second part of the procedure.

Reedly's name and picture have been added to an honour board at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children, to record the children who have been assisted in this way.

Ms Mahlberg is excited to see how much Reedly has grown since the surgery. "He will be back in February and it will be magic to see him again," she says.

Her journey to Canberra was via Hobart where she did her schooling and nursing training, and Sydney where she completed her midwifery qualification.

"I love looking after people, and to see them get better is a real thrill as a nurse," she says. "They come in sick, then they go home well and you get a real sense of achievement in your career."

She is a senior nurse at Calvary Hospital but is a frequent visitor to the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children at Woden.

Arriving there for a photo shoot, Ms Mahlberg is greeted familiarly by staff and congratulated cheerily for her recognition in the Australian of the Year awards.

Any traveller to nearby countries can make a referral on Rotary's website if they see a child who needs help.

"We do have contacts with the hospitals in these countries, so they do know about ROMAC but they don't know about us as much as they should and as a result Juliette, Reedly's mother, was always told that they can't do anything," Ms Mahlberg says.

"We get over 100 referrals a year nationally but we can only take 40 so we have to prioritise and that would be heartbreaking for the panel of doctors who have to make these decisions.

"We've had children on the books for two years because we can't take them on yet, you have to prioritise, we don't have infinite money."

When a case is accepted, the national committee decides which hospital will be best for the treatment.

"The doctor and the hospital send letters saying no Australian child will be disadvantaged, that is very important, we cannot take the place of an Australian child," Ms Mahlberg says.

She takes the children and their parents into her home and believes more people should be prepared to do the same - they become your family.

"I think there are a lot of people in our own community who could be helped, I see elderly people who need help, even just visiting and listening to their stories of life," she says.

"People like to do activities such as Landcare which is great but when it comes down to actually helping a family in need, they don't want to get involved.

"There are a lot of people in Canberra, like new refugees, who have no one, children from Banardos who need our help - people are important!.

"Wouldn't it be great if your family took on a refugee family and became their friend, this is where Canberra can shine a lot more and become a real caring society."

www.romac.org.au

Twitter: @rosspeakeCT