Braveheart battler Nathan Garcia thrown a lifeline

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Fingers crossed for Monique and Nathan ... argghhh!!!!!

By Grant McArthur

November 26, 2008 12:01am

BRAVEHEART battler Nathan Garcia has been thrown a lifeline.

The French inventor of a spinal support rod that could enable Nathan to have a life-saving heart operation has offered to immediately fly him to Paris for the implant.

On Monday the Herald Sun revealed Royal Children's Hospital safety procedures had delayed surgery to implant the rod in Melbourne.

Nathan's mum, Monique Garcia, was now speaking to respiratory doctors in Melbourne to find out if Nathan, 6, could survive the journey.

The founder of Phenix Medical, Arnaud Soubeiran, met the Royal Children's director of cardiac surgery, Dr Christian Brizard, in Paris on Monday to again discuss Nathan's condition.

He has told Ms Garcia he would arrange surgery at Paris's St Vincent de Paul Hospital, where more than 40 rods have been implanted in other patients, if Nathan is well enough to travel.

"I will provide you with all the support I can," he wrote to Ms Garcia.

"This of course includes offering a dedicated Phenix M device to Nathan and offering you to stay in my flat in Paris if this option works.

"But there is no doubt that time is playing against us and that we must make quickly the right decision because we won't have a second chance."

The Pascoe Vale boy was born with only half a heart and scoliosis, a condition that has deformed his spine and made him too ill to survive the complex open-heart surgery needed to prevent his fragile heart stopping.

Ms Garcia has criticised the RCH's new technologies committee for not allowing the rod to be implanted in Nathan's back because it is not approved in Australia.

While the chances of the rod improving Nathan's condition enough for him to undergo the heart surgery were unknown, Ms Garcia said he would die without it so she was hoping to accept the French offer.

"They have opened up a position for Nathan, and have offered to house me and take care of us," she said.

"I feel this is something that could really happen for Nathan, and could get him into the treatment that he needs much quicker, so it is a chance we have to take.

"It is a risk to fly, but we cannot afford to wait and I have to do everything to protect my son."

But RCH chief of surgery Leo Donnan said Nathan was in a stable condition with no immediate danger. The hospital was acting in his best interests by fully evaluating the new device.

"The technology committee has looked at the rod . . . and there are still a few questions that need to be completed before we can say it is safe," he said.

"We have a child that has a very precarious condition that could potentially be life-threatening by intervening with surgery.

"We are going to make sure everything we do is 100 per cent safe to maximise the chance of this child having a good outcome. It is not about bureaucracy . . . it is purely about giving this child the best chance of surviving."