Young Boy Gets New Lease On Life After Surgery

It's the beginning of a new life for a little boy from Central America. He came to Tulsa for a life-saving surgery, but he'll go home with so much more. The News On 6â€™s Joshua Brakhage reports

Sunday, June 3rd 2007, 5:37 pm

By: News On 6

It's the beginning of a new life for a little boy from Central America. He came to Tulsa for a life-saving surgery, but he'll go home with so much more. The News On 6â€™s Joshua Brakhage reports the 5-year-old had to have his insides rearranged to allow him to get his first taste of America.

Big fans never came in smaller packages. Ricardo Hernandez JimÃ©nez is from Nicaragua where baseball's more than a national pastime, it's life. And any 5-year-old would be thrilled to throw out the first pitch. Ricardo did at Drillers Stadium on Sunday.

Young Ricardo is about half-the-size of a normal 5-year-old, and he hasn't eaten anything since he was born. Ricardo was born without an esophagus; all of his food came from a feeding tube in his stomach. After eight failed surgeries, Nicaraguan doctors gave up on him.

"The surgeons told mom to take her son home and there was nothing else they could do for Ricardo in Nicaragua," said Dr. Warren Pagel of Tulsaâ€™s St. John Medical Center.

But Saint John's Dr. Warren Pagel thought he could do more. He made sure Ricardo and his mother came to the United States, where Tulsa surgeons stretched his colon into a new esophagus.

Ricardo's mother Yahoska calls Dr. Pagel a second father to her son. In fact, Ricardo has an entire second family, nurses from the hospital who can't put him down.

"He's throwing baseballs out, waving at the crowd, giving the thumbs up sign. He's just enjoying life," Dr. Pagel said.
Now that Ricardo is on his way to making his baseball dreams come true, he told his mother all he wants to do now is eat.

"And the best part about it is he wants to taste everything, because he's never been able to eat anything," Ricardoâ€™s mother Yahoska JimÃ©nez said.

"He was eating rice, beans, tortillas, meat, chips, salsa and drinking Pepsi, just like any normal little boy," said Pagel.

While other boys his age chows down on ballpark favorites like cotton candy and popcorn, Ricardo was content with his candy necklace. "Content" is not the word his mother would use.

"They've made my son and myself very happy today," Yahoska JimÃ©nez said.

Baseball and a candy necklace, you can't get much more American than that.

Ricardo and his mother go home next Saturday, but he'll still need special nutrition. Dr. Pagel is collecting donations through his foundation, Helping Hands. If youâ€™re interested in donating you can contact the St. John Pulse Line at 918-744-0123.

Watch the video: Oklahoma Doctor Gives New Hope To Young Boy

WEB EXTRA: Extended Interview With Dr. Warren Pagel

WEB EXTRA: Extended Interview With Yahoska JimÃ©nez, Ricardo's Mother