He’s All Heart

Diego Baza had the time of his 8-year-old life Friday when his schoolmates at St. John Eudes School welcomed him back to campus for a fund-raiser in his honor.

The students smiled and waved at the terminally ill third-grader as he arrived on the playground for the hourlong jump rope event to benefit the American Heart Assn.

The Roman Catholic elementary school conducts the jump-a-thon every year, but dedicated this year’s event to Diego, whose brave battle against a rare heart condition has been a source of inspiration for the school’s 260 students.

“It’s very fantastic for everyone to welcome me,” Diego said, sitting in his wheelchair festooned with a bouquet of balloons. “It’s great.”

The Chatsworth youngster, who has endured complications associated with a congenital heart defect since birth, was diagnosed four years ago with primary pulmonary hypertension, a rare lung disorder caused by above normal blood pressure in the pulmonary artery that carries blood from the heart to the lungs.

Diego was released from the hospital in December and receives hospice care at home.

Despite his bouts with chronic fatigue, swollen limbs and nose bleeds, Diego appeared to rise above his condition on Friday, displaying courage beyond his years.

“I asked him if he was sure he wanted to go to school [Friday] and he was like, ‘Yes!’ ” said Diego’s mother, Sandra De La Riva, standing next to her son’s wheelchair. “It’s very important for him to be close to the kids.”

Diego’s father, Rick Baza, said he was humbled by the outpouring of support.

“It’s very touching to see the kids work for such a great cause,” he said, watching children jump rope. “But it’s even more special because everyone knows Diego and there is a direct link to what they are doing.”

If Diego was suffering, he didn’t complain as he received cookies from a Girl Scout troop, accepted shamrocks from a kindergarten class, posed for pictures and smiled as he recognized his friends’ faces.

As adults hovered around him attempting to meet his every need, it was a group of second-graders who seemed to know exactly what he wanted.

With silly songs like, “God Bless My Underwear,” and a finger-snapping rendition of the “Hail Mary” prayer, Diego’s face lit up as he appeared to forget for a moment all the doctor’s appointments and medications and oxygen tanks.

“He was an angel in my classroom and he spread his love to everyone,” said Diego’s second-grade teacher, Christina Carpenter, after leading the children in their impromptu songfest. “It was my honor to teach him.”

When Diego was ready to begin kindergarten three years ago, De La Riva and Baza, her former husband, were advised to home-school him.

“But I wanted him to have the socialization, and the school was open to taking a child who was ill,” said De La Riva, who is on leave from her position as an assistant director with the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department.

Doctors fitted Diego with a catheter that delivered medication directly to his heart from a pump tucked into a backpack.

Known as “The Backpack Kid,” Diego’s kindergarten classmates took turns pulling him in a wagon he used to get around campus.

“The kids in kindergarten were phenomenal,” De La Riva recalled. “The kids signed up to pull the wagon and to help him with his books.”

In second-grade, Diego was well enough to walk down the aisle at St. John Eudes Catholic Church to receive his first Holy Communion.

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Slowly, Diego’s health began to deteriorate after he began third-grade last fall. He was placed on a recipient list for a heart and double-lung transplant, De La Riva said.

In recent months, however, Diego’s disease has progressed to the point where his body would reject the transplanted organs, his mother said.

During this difficult time, De La Riva said she gains strength from St. John Eudes school and parish. Church members offer encouraging words, drop by with dinner or make play dates with Diego’s younger brother Jesse, 6.

De La Riva recalled that when Diego’s terminal condition was diagnosed four years ago, doctors told her he had only one month to live.

“In my mind, every year after his fourth year I consider a blessing and count as extra time,” she said. “To have him celebrate a birthday or First Communion or something that most of us take for granted is very special for our family.”