CARDIAC SURGEON OFFERS CHANCE OF LIFE TO TEEN.

For the past two years, his parents, who run a vegetable stand in the Philippines, have searched desperately for a way to pay for surgery. With every day, Randolf's chances of surviving were getting dimmer, doctors told them.

The wait and the prayers are over.

This morning, a cardiac surgeon and staff at Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center are scheduled to operate on the teen-ager free of charge, with the expectation Randolf will resume a normal life.

"I can't believe that everybody seems to care for me," Randolf mumbled in a barely audible voice from his hospital bed. "I'm very, very thankful and amazed."

The surgeon, Mohammad Gharavi, and a team of nurses and anesthesiologists at Encino-Tarzana are donating about $80,000 of time and facilities to replace Randolf's diseased aortic valve.

The surgery is coming just in time. The longer the wait, Gharavi said, the greater the risk of fatal complications during the operation. Normally the procedure only has about a 1 percent risk, but on Randolf the chances are at least 5 percent, and climbing, he said.

"It's already almost too late," Gharavi said. "I prefer to operate before the heart gets too weak."

The teen-ager is staying for free with a host family in Camarillo, and Delta Air Lines provided a free flight to the United States.

Gharavi, who has donated four surgeries in the past on other children, said he is glad to help. But he said he worries about all the others in equally dire straits.

"My concern is the children," Gharavi said. "There are many, many hundreds of thousands, millions of people in the world who need help. This way at least we have an opportunity to help some of them. If they don't get help here, they probably won't get any help."

His parents and relatives are overwhelmed with appreciation.

"It's almost unbelievable," said Randolf's uncle, Rafael Caday, who flew down from Ottawa, Canada, to help him. "To offer the whole operation and stay for free and air fare? That was unbelievable."

"We are more than grateful," added his aunt, Resochita Arma, who brought Randolf from the Philippines.

His parents had to stay home to watch their three other children and run the business, Arma said.

Randolf, who lives in the city of Laoag, about 300 miles north of Manila, developed rheumatic heart disease about five years ago, according to family members.

The disease, which commonly starts as a reaction to strep throat, destroys tissue around the heart and can eventually lead to heart failure, Gharavi said.

After doctors in the Philippines said more than two years ago that Randolf needed his aortic valve replaced, his parents, aunts and uncles searched desperately for help. They contacted numerous charitable organizations in the Philippines and North America, but none could provide the entire cost of the procedure.

And then they contacted Healing the Children about four months ago.

Cris Embleton, executive director of Healing the Children's California chapter based in Valencia, said the group relies entirely on donated services.

"We don't have the money," Embleton said. "Our program is a volunteer program. But we do have our voices and that's what we use."

To contact Healing the Children, call: (661) 288-1957.