Ask a mother which of her children she loves the most and nine times out of ten she'll say, "the-one that's ill"—or— "the one that's away from home."
It appears that Christmas 1963 is going to be a happy one for the Leo A. Cavells of Lafayette, because all seven of their children will be home. And all are in good health.
It didn't look that way a ljttle over a month ago.
Their 10-year-old son, Tommy, entered Touro Infirmary to undergo a rare operation on his heart Nov. 7. His chances were slim. The odds were against him. Few had ever survived such an operation.
BUT DOCTORS had told the Cavells that their son could not live long with such a heart condition. They said the boy's blood vessels in his heart were all in the wrong places.
It was a long time before the Cavells could agree to have Tommy operated on. They finally decided that the possibility that their son could live a happy, normal life was worth the risk. They turned him over to medical men and went home to pray.
Tommy left Touro Infirmary over the past weekend apparently recovered from the delicate operation in which surgeons from Louisiana State University Medical school transposed the vessels of his heart.
A TEAM OF 12 worked to correct Tommy's condition.
The operation, according to doctors, has changed the future of young Tommy. Once an "extremely blue baby," the youth will now be able to run, jump, ride bikes or do anything any other normal boy can do,.say his physicians.
Dr. Harold M Albert headed tHe LSU surgical team that performed the massive and dangerous surgery on Tommy. He is associate professor of surgery at LSU.
PHOTO: TOMMY CAVELL
