SOUTH COUNTY : Money Raised for Two Sick Students

Nearly $20,000 has been raised in the past two months for two South County students battling life-threatening illnesses.

In separate fund-raising efforts, about $10,200 has been raised for Carolynn O’Malley, a 20-year-old Irvine college student who needs a heart transplant, while about $9,000 has been collected for Stefanie Gorman, a 15-year-old San Juan Capistrano ninth-grader afflicted with leukemia.

O’Malley’s group is trying to raise $30,000, while Gorman’s is trying to raise at least $20,000, each to help the families pay for medical expenses not covered by insurance.

O’Malley contracted a viral infection last fall that severely damaged her heart, reducing its capacity to pump blood by more than 90%, according to her doctors. She is on a waiting list for a transplant, which her doctors have guessed will take place in the fall.

“We feel really good about what we have been able to do so far,” said Peggy Davis, one of the leaders of the O’Malley effort. Davis is a teacher at La Tierra Elementary School in Mission Viejo, as is O’Malley’s mother, Kathy Gonzales.

Her mother’s medical insurance does not cover heart transplants, but Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach has agreed to donate its doctors and facilities. But that leaves about $30,000 in prescription and other costs.

Much of O’Malley’s money was raised at the school through a student jog-a-thon and through a drawing.

“When school resumes in September, we are going to start up again,” Davis said. “We plan to have a dinner at a local restaurant and some carwashes.”

Karen Gorman, Stefanie’s mother, said her daughter was readmitted last week to Children’s Hospital of Orange County--where she has spent much of the year--to have knee surgery for rheumatoid arthritis caused by her chemotherapy.

Stefanie is suffering from a particularly virulent strain of leukemia and has spent the months in CHOC receiving chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant and treatment for infections.

The stays depleted her parents’ original $1-million medical insurance policy, and although another policy has been obtained, the family could face debts in excess of $180,000, Karen Gorman said.

Much of the Gorman money was raised through a birthday party thrown for her last month at a shopping center.

“We are fortunate that we have been able to find additional insurance, but there is a period there that is not going to be covered,” Karen Gorman said. “But I don’t know what we will do if we have to pay $185,000. We are a middle-income family. Even rich people would have trouble with that.”

Donations to O’Malley can be made through La Tierra School, 24150 Lindley St., Mission Viejo, Calif. 92691.

Donations to Stefanie Gorman can be made to Friends of Stefanie, 28202 Cabot Road, Suite 310, Laguna Niguel, Calif. 92677.