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Largo boy laps field in terms of toughness

By JOHN ROMANO
Published May 28, 2006

CONCORD, N.C. - Inside the Hendrick Motorsports compound, the tour is about to start. It's a small group today, just a father and his twin sons.

None has ever been to a NASCAR race, let alone inside the high-tech shop of one of auto racing's elite teams. It's a different world from the Saturday nights they used to spend at the old Sunshine Speedway in Pinellas Park.

The 11-year-olds are peering inside one of the cars when a nearby garage door opens. The tour guide steps out and walks toward one of the boys.

"You must be Johnny," he says, extending a hand. "I'm Jeff Gordon."

So begins the weekend of Johnny Mazza's life.

* * *

You don't get this far without making some sacrifices, or so they say. Every driver has a hard-luck story to tell, every crew member has overcome a bigger obstacle than the guy in the next pit.

Yet, on the weekend of the Coca-Cola 600, not a one can match the perseverance of a fifth-grader from Largo. He could teach them a little about toughness, and a little more about determination.

As for courage? You've got to be kidding.

Frankie Mazza was barely 2 pounds when he was born 13 weeks premature at All Children's Hospital. And he was the lucky one. His brother Johnny was half his size. Their mother, still alert through the emergency caesarean section, was suffering far beyond the physical anguish.

"Johnny was so small when they took him out," Ann Moritz said. "I could hear the doctor say he didn't even know if he had organs."

Johnny and Frankie - or Twin A and Twin B, as they were referred to throughout the pregnancy - had stuck twin syndrome.

It essentially means they shared a blood vessel, and one twin was getting an overload of blood while the other was not getting enough. It can result in one large baby with too much amniotic fluid and the other with too little.

The condition is one of the leading causes of mortality in multiple births and, in her case, Moritz said doctors were concerned the buildup of amniotic fluid could be fatal for her.

"They kept telling me it was okay to abort," Moritz said. "I said, "God put them in there, and he's going to have to take them away."'

Johnny was given little chance for survival. Moritz said she was advised it was best to take him off life support.

"They came to my husband and said, "What do you want to do?' I thought, "What do you mean by that?"' Moritz said. "They said if he doesn't die today, he'll die tomorrow.

"Somebody told me it was inhumane to keep him alive. They told me there was no way he could make it. So I started praying. I prayed and prayed and prayed. And when I wasn't praying, I was crying."

Frankie would spend four months in the hospital. Johnny was hospitalized for virtually a year. His parents eventually had Johnny taken by air ambulance to a hospital in St. Louis, where a doctor said his lungs were beyond repair.

He was placed on a transplant list, and his parents were given a beeper and told to prepare for the long vigil that would follow.

Remarkably - and, by definition, tragically - the beeper went off 30 hours later.

A baby was dying in Orlando. The profile was almost exactly what was needed. The lungs were flown to St. Louis and, at 11 months old, Johnny underwent surgery for six hours.

"It's been a miracle. That's the only way to look at it," said Johnny's father, David. "They weren't given a chance from Day 1. They weren't given a chance even before they were born. And look at them now."

They are in the club section at Lowe's Motor Speedway for Saturday night's Busch series race. They have hot dogs, souvenirs and each other. Frankie flips Johnny's hat off, and Johnny punches his brother in the shoulder. All the while, David, Ann and the boys' stepfather, Damian Moritz, watch happily.

The last 10 years have not always been easy. Johnny needs medication every 12 hours, and is susceptible to infection and organ rejection. Doctors have warned the family that there are no guarantees.

Mindful of all Johnny has endured, Damian thought his stepson deserved something special. With his bedroom decorated in NASCAR memorabilia and Jeff Gordon colors, the family contacted the Sarasota/Tampa Bay Make-A-Wish Foundation.

With the help of ESPN, which is planning a SportsCenter special on the Make-A-Wish Foundation in July, the tour at Hendrick Motorsports was set up for Friday.

"He had this big smile on his face when Jeff walked out," David Mazza said.

For 45 minutes, Gordon took the family around the facility. He helped Johnny climb through the window of a car, and started it up for him. He put him behind a desk and announced Johnny was crew chief for the day.

The afternoon was not unusual for Gordon, who donated $1.6-million to his foundation last year. He has another Make-A-Wish session scheduled before today's race, and averages a meeting a week.

"These kids have such a determination to fight and endure pain and suffering," said John Bickford, Gordon's stepfather and vice president of Jeff Gordon Inc. "The money can buy machines, and medication and hospital beds, but the one thing that can't be bought is Jeff's time.

"For Jeff, it means something to give a child that experience. It makes him appreciate his life. He'll tell you it makes him strong."

Today, the strongest person at the Coca-Cola 600 is not in the garage or behind the wheel of a stock car. He is high in the bleachers at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He is sitting with his family and living his dream.

He is 11 years old, and has the firmest of grips on life.

[Last modified May 28, 2006, 01:27:10]