Boy Undergoes Heart Transplant

An All Saints fifth-grader is in critical condition after undergoing a heart transplant Monday at Stanford University.

Brian Prawdzik, 10, was on a respirator but had opened his eyes and was responding to his mother, said Jan Prawdzik.

Brian, the son of Jan and Air Force Maj. Steve Prawdzik of Spokane, underwent the three-hour procedure at Stanford’s Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital.

The soccer player and altar server at St. Peter’s Catholic Church became ill suddenly in mid-July. Doctors discovered his heart was working at a fraction of capacity and he went on a transplant waiting list three weeks ago.

Brian will remain in California at least three months for monitoring. His mother, a medical technologist at Deaconess Medical Center, and sister Laura, 13, have joined him.

“He’s not out of the woods by any means,” Prawdzik said Tuesday. “I look through those glass doors and he’s covered with dressings and tubes. He’s so skinny you can see his chest pounding with the new heart - it’s amazing.” , DataTimes