Fund-Raiser To Help Pay For Boy’s Surgery Just When Treatment Becomes Available, Boy Loses Insurance

When Kathy Thatcher went into labor eight years ago, she had no reason to be worried.

Doctors had twice looked at the unborn child with ultrasound. They assured the young mother that everything looked normal.

But as soon as the baby was born, everyone knew something was wrong.

“He was purple, and the whole right side of his chest was caved in,” she said. The infant was rushed to an intensive care unit for newborns.

The boy, named Brian Derry Plutzer, survived and has grown into an affable, intelligent second-grader. But now Thatcher faces a terrible problem: Just when life-saving experimental surgery has become available in Texas, her son has lost his health insurance.

Friends are holding a 3 p.m. fund-raiser Sunday at the Cave Lake Resort north of St. Maries.

Thatcher’s son was born with a rare birth defect that left him with only one lung and the right side of his rib cage malformed.

His condition has grown worse. His spine has curved, tilting his head. His bones are brittle, and he gets sick easily.

Having one lung is not life-threatening. But while the boy’s lung is growing normally, the rib cage isn’t. The lung is increasingly constrained by the boy’s own bones.

“The right side of his thorax will stay like a baby’s, while he’s trying to become an adolescent,” said his orthopedic surgeon, Dr. William Osebold. Osebold works at the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in Spokane.

“When I breathe real hard, I have to slow down and take a rest,” said Plutzer, now 8.

The more he grows, the worse the problem will become, Osebold said. Ultimately, it would be life-threatening.

So Texas doctors plan to try experimental surgery on Plutzer, cutting apart his fused ribs and inserting a titanium spacer to keep them apart.

Like braces on teeth, the spacer will be spread apart from time to time to expand the rib cage.

“This is all we’ve got that’s halfway satisfactory,” said Osebold. “The few people I’m aware of that have had it have done quite well.”

But three weeks ago, Thatcher’s ex-husband, Ted Plutzer, called and said he’d quit his job and lost the health insurance that had covered the boy, she said.

The call came on the heels of another from the Santa Rosa Children’s Center at the University of Texas. After months of waiting, the hospital has scheduled a preliminary exam for Brian Plutzer on July 2.

“Brian was here when the (surgery) phone call came in. He was all excited,” said Thatcher. “I can’t see telling him that he can’t have it - he wants to play sports and everything.”

The Shriners can only pay for care at a Shriners hospital, said Dr. Osebold, and this surgery is too new to undertake in Spokane. Thatcher said she’s been unsuccessful at finding other aid to pay for the experimental surgery, estimated to cost more than $1 million.

But she said she’s determined to get her son the needed surgery, no matter what.

“My son will have this, if I have to sign my life away,” she said.

To help, friends organized Sunday’s fund-raiser. They’ll raffle a Ruger 9mm pistol and auction items donated by area businesses. A spaghetti feed is planned in June.

“She didn’t want it (a fund-raiser),” said family friend Brenda Sands. “She felt like she was taking charity. I told her that she needs this benefit.”

The surgery likely wouldn’t improve the boy’s spinal curve - he wears a brace - but it would prevent it from getting worse, Osebold said.

As for young Plutzer, he spends most days indoors. He’s easily infected, and can’t go out to play when it’s windy or wet. He reads adventure books, and plays with a computer during school recess on damp days.

His biggest fear about the operation, he said, was that the plane to Texas might crash.

“To tell you the truth, he’s an inspiration,” said Charlie Derry, an ex-husband of Thatcher’s who is close to the boy. “You can’t tell him he can’t do something. He’s quite the tough kid.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TO HELP Friends have set up an account for donations at First Security Bank under the name Brian Derry. Anyone wishing to donate items for a benefit auction can call St. Maries resident Brenda Sands at (208) 245-6596.