As boy waits for heart, family struggles

The family has run into hard economic and emotional times.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. -- Six-year-old Johnny Evans has a big heart.
Unfortunately, it needs to be replaced.
Johnny has had four heart surgeries at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh since he was 3 months old.
Johnny was born with a hole in his heart and a missing valve. The kindergartner at West Middlesex Luther Low Elementary School also takes six to seven medications daily.
His mother, Alexis Evans, said Johnny will be placed on the heart transplant list at Children's Hospital. When he will need the organ -- in three months or three years -- is uncertain.
Although the surgeries have been paid for through public assistance, which also will pick up the transplant cost, there are other needs during the trips to Pittsburgh for evaluations.
Travel costs
Evans said the cost of transportation, parking, meals, baby-sitting for her 9-year-old daughter, Rita, and motel rooms add up. She's driving her father-in-law's car because hers isn't running any more.
To help pay for those expenses, a spaghetti dinner and Chinese auction will be from 1 to 6 p.m. June 27 at the American Legion Post on High Street in Girard.
Dinners are $10 for adults and free to children under 6. The event is being put on by family friends Holly Connolly of Girard and Diana Stupka of Austintown.
Accepting donations
Donations also can be made in Johnny's name at any Sky Bank branch.
Johnny said Thursday that he looks forward to the heart transplant and then spending more time playing with his friends.
"He's allowed to play, but he takes breaks," said his mother, a part-time employee at the Middlesex Inn.
Johnny also must be in air conditioning because the humidity is hard on him, his mother explained.
In addition to Johnny's medical plight, Alexis and her husband, John C. III, have suffered some financial and emotional blows.
In 1987, their 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Kristi, died after being run over by a van.
On May 21, 2001, her husband was crushed by a truck and hasn't worked since. Alexis Evans pointed out that her husband went from a nursing home to being bed ridden to now walking with a cane.
He receives workers' compensation and is attempting to receive disability status.
Mr. Evans' father died about a year ago, and his mother underwent a liver transplant three months ago and remains hospitalized in Pittsburgh.
yovich@vindy.com