‘It’s Wonderful!’ Catheterization Discloses That Romanian 6-Year-Old Is A Good Candidate For Open-Heart Surgery

“It’s a go. He’s operable.”

With those words, Spokane doctors confirmed Tuesday that a 6-year-old Romanian boy can undergo open-heart surgery as soon as it can be scheduled.

Flavius Lazar and his mother, Aurica, got the good news at Deaconess Medical Center after heart catheterization showed his pulmonary artery is adequate in size and damage to his lungs from his heart ailment is not too extensive.

“He’s sturdy; he’s strong; he’s a good candidate,” said Dr. Welzie Allen.

“His mother has waited five years to hear someone say that,” said Celeste Shaw, the Spokane volunteer responsible for bringing Flavius and his mother here. “It’s wonderful.”

Flavius was born with a heart condition and a hole in his heart which have reduced the flow of blood to his lungs, curtailed his activity and hospitalized him in Romania for months at a time. Normal play leaves him short of breath and bluish. Untreated, he likely would not survive his early teens.

Allen, the pediatric cardiologist who will collaborate with Dr. Jack Leonard on the surgery, said the procedure ahead is “very complex.”

If the operation and recovery go well, the boy could be out of the hospital five days after surgery.

His life after that? “Normal, normal,” Allen said.

Shaw said she hardly slept worrying about what the morning diagnosis would reveal. She finally got up at 4:30, and Shaw, the boy’s mother and translator Sorina Darabantiu went to the hospital.

The boy’s father, Patrica, and sister, Rebeca, 2, are at home in Romania.

Flavius protested mightily when nurses tried to take his temperature with an ear thermometer and later yelled loudly in Romanian as nurses prepared him for the catheter.

What was he yelling? “I’m going to tell my father about this. I’m telling my father about all of you.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo