Heartbroken : Life-Threatening Vascular Ailment Dashes Polish Swimmer’s Dream of Going to Seoul

A Polish swimmer training in Mission Viejo who had dreamed of competing in the summer Olympics in Seoul instead will be catching an early flight home for a life-saving operation.

Wojciech Wyzga (pronounced voy-check viz-guh ) will fly to Krakow as soon as his benefactors can arrange a ticket. He will undergo a delicate operation to correct a rare and dangerous vascular problem.

Wyzga, 22, who expected to be competing in Olympic trials for the Polish team this week in the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly, said Saturday that he is heartbroken and that his family fears for his health.

“I’m scared of the operation. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “I’m happy I’m going to see my family, but this is not how I imagined to go back.”

What’s more, he will be leaving behind a $15,000 hospital bill. His American friends do not know how he will pay it.

Wyzga is one of four Polish swimmers who are training in Mission Viejo through the efforts of the Polish-American Sports Foundation, which brings world-class athletes to the area to train. Since May, they have been swimming about six hours a day, perfecting their form and improving their speed, said Dr. Bernard De Berry, a foundation member. The other three, ages 17 to 22, all made the Polish Olympic team recently, he said.

But about two weeks ago, Wyzga said, he noticed some swelling in his right arm. A week later, the swelling and pain forced him to seek treatment.

Wyzga was admitted to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, where Dr. Fred Burbank determined that he had a blockage in the main vein that carries blood from the right arm to the heart. The blockage occurred at a point where his blood vessel is dangerously constricted, De Berry said.

“It’s a very rare medical condition and very difficult to discover, and almost uniformly they do not discover it until symptoms develop,” De Berry said. Wyzga could have lost his arm, or the clot could have detached and lodged in his heart or brain, he said.

Dr. Stephen Lindsay, a vascular surgeon, performed an angioplasty on the clot, shooting clot-dissolving medicine directly on the blockage via a catheter, De Berry said.

Wyzga was released Friday and is taking anti-coagulant medicine to keep new clots from developing, but he needs immediate surgery to correct a congenital vascular problem that, unless operated on, puts his health at risk and will keep keep him from pursuing his dream of an Olympic medal, De Berry said.

Vein Constricted

Ironically, it is because Wyzga is a world-class athlete and has built up such muscle mass around his blood vessels that his condition is so perilous, De Berry said. The muscle mass is pressuring the blood vessels.

Wyzga has a congenital problem that constricts the main vein that returns blood to the heart, De Berry said. The operation would remove bone and scar tissue that is constricting the blood vessel.

“Because it is one of the biggest blood vessels, it poses a special challenge and danger. . . . This being a highly special procedure, it takes tremendous expertise. You’re dealing with the body of a person that has been tuned to beat world records,” De Berry said.

He estimated that the risk to Wyzga’s life from the operation is about 5%, the risk of losing an arm is 10% and the chance of Wyzga being left unable to compete is 50-50.

“Obviously, this requires a first-class surgical team and facility,” he said.

And that’s where Wyzga’s money problems enter again.

Insurance Lapsed

Wyzga entered the hospital a week ago thinking that his medical insurance was in good order, but the policy had lapsed, De Berry said. The physicians who treated him have waived their fees, and the hospital is being understanding, “saying, ‘We’ll work with you,’ ” De Berry said.

“Through the generosity and skill of my colleagues, an Olympic-class swimmer has been saved,” but the foundation does not have the funds to pay the Mission hospital bill, he said.

And that does not begin to address the cost of the operation--estimated at $50,000 to $100,000 if performed in the United States, De Berry said. Reluctantly, everyone has decided that Wyzga will have to be operated on in Poland, which has socialized medicine, by American-trained doctors, he said.

“I’m Polish. I cannot say I’m skeptical about their ability. From what I know, it (their expertise) does exist. But knowing how both Polish and American medicine work, I would feel more comfortable here,” De Berry said. “He certainly has a tremendous risk of losing his career and his talent.”

Even getting Wyzga back to Poland has posed a financial problem. He planned to leave Monday, but his discount ticket does not allow such a rapid departure. De Berry said a full-fare ticket, to get him home quickly, will cost about $1,000.

Majors in Math

Wyzga is attending the University of Arizona on a five-year swimming scholarship. He is majoring in mathematics with the option of going into computer science. His scholarship will not be jeopardized by his injury, he said.

But De Berry is worried about Wyzga’s future in sports.

“For him it opens the world, it opens the door to getting his education and to his future,” he said.

Wyzga said his chances of going to the Olympics this year were good. He ranked 17th in the world last year and placed eighth in the European championships. His best time in the 200-meter butterfly was just three-tenths of a second off the Olympic qualifying time, he said.

He is still trying to come to terms with not competing this year, he said. When he was being admitted to the hospital, he wouldn’t even let himself ponder that possibility.

“I was really disappointed. I had been doing everything I could to go there (the Olympics), and all of a sudden I couldn’t. I couldn’t think about that,” he said. “When they tried to give me a painkiller, at first I refused because I was thinking I was going to the Olympics.”

Wyzga has dreamed of competing in the Olympics since he was 12. It’s questionable whether he’ll be able to compete four years from now. “I don’t know. I’ll be 26,” he said. “Who knows what’s going to happen?”