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Holiday man dies waiting for liver transplant
By RYAN DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, HOLIDAY -- Before moving to the United States 10 years ago, Paul Andruitu was a doctor in Greece known by his neighbors for providing free medical help to the needy. He died Monday morning (Aug. 27, 2001) in his Holiday home, waiting for the assistance he used to provide. He needed a liver transplant to have a chance at surviving. He was 51. Mr. Andruitu was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1999. He believed he had contracted the disease 20 years earlier during an operation. His family had begun to raise the money to pay for a liver transplant at the University of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital. His wife, Penelope, had been told that $100,000 would probably be enough. With help from friends and local Greek associations, she had raised $72,000, and $5,000 more was in the mail. Mrs. Andruitu had begun to plan how she would get him to Miami for the surgery. "What can you say?" she said on Tuesday. "It wasn't to be." Mr. Andruitu came to the United States with Penelope and their twin sons, Patrick and Kevin, now 13. He wanted to practice medicine, get a better education for his sons and find out more about his parents, who died when he was 4. He never passed his medical exams. He never found out whether his parents, who were from Uganda and were killed in a car accident in California, actually gave birth to him in the United States. All he had to show for coming to the United States, his wife said, was his sons' education. He frequently told friends that all he wanted was to see them graduate. "For the time being, we are okay," Mrs. Andruitu said. "I'm afraid about the kids. They seem to do fine, but it's too early to tell." When Mr. Andruitu was diagnosed with the disease, he told his sons he would someday die from it. On Sunday he threw up when his wife tried to feed him. When she awoke about 5:45 a.m. Monday his eyes were closed and his mouth was open. "That was usual lately," she said. He had not gotten out of bed in about 10 days. First she realized he wasn't breathing. Then she saw that his heart wasn't beating. Recently she could see the thump of his heart through his skin. "He was just a skeleton with a swollen belly," she said. He was pronounced dead that morning. Mr. Andruitu's funeral will be held at 11:30 this morning at St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Tarpon Springs. Mrs. Andruitu said she plans to stay in the United States. She will use the donated money to pay for the funeral and medical bills. She will select a charity and donate the rest, she said. "It is good to know," Mrs. Andruitu said, "that there are people here who care." - Ryan Davis covers higher education and social services in Pasco. He can be reached at 800-333-7505 ext. 3452. His e-mail address is rdavis@sptimes.com.
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