By J.J. Huggins
jhuggins@eagletribune.com
December 09, 2008 11:50 am All it took was a look at the waitress and 20-year-old Ioan Tomsa of Romania was smitten. Until earlier this year, Tomsa (pronounced TOM-sha) had no right eye and his face was caved inward, the result of a surgery he had when he was 7 years old to remove a benign tumor in his head. He said he grew up feeling ashamed. A volunteer team of doctors reconstructed Tomsa's face at Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, giving the young man a new air of confidence when he returned home. He used that confidence to ask the waitress, Loredana, for her phone number and after just three months, her hand in marriage. She said yes to both. "Another life," Vivi Iliescu, a Romanian woman who traveled with Tomsa to the Merrimack Valley last week for a follow-up doctor's visit, said to describe how Tomsa felt when he returned home. Tomsa speaks little English. Iliescu is the Romanian representative for Nobody's Children, an international children's relief agency based in Windham, N.H., and she translated for him. Elaine Yourtee is the executive director of the organization and she hosted Tomsa in Windham last week, and when he came here last winter for the surgery. Dr. George Chatson, a North Andover plastic surgeon, heard about Tomsa's case through an aid organization called Healing the Children. He had previously been to Romania on a medical mission for the group. Chatson assembled a medical team to perform the surgery in January for free, and last Wednesday was the first time he had seen Tomsa since Tomsa went home to Romania. The doctor remarked that Tomsa looks like Olympic swimming phenom Michael Phelps. Tomsa didn't seem to know who Phelps is, so Chatson showed him the athlete's photograph. Iliescu then said Tomsa resembles a famous Romanian singer named Stefan Banica. Tomsa smiled and nodded. "Overall, my feeling is one of satisfaction and I feel very good about the effort that involved so many people to perform this surgery," Chatson said. Chatson suggested to Tomsa that he perform another surgery down the road to further perfect the right side of his face. The doctor can remove skin and tissue from Tomsa's stomach and implant it in his face to enhance the contour of his cheek, but Tomsa is hesitant because he's afraid of complications. "Let him think about it and maybe he'll be interested in doing that at some point in the future," Chatson said. Chatson was pleased to see how well Tomsa can now open his mouth. Before the surgery, Tomsa could barely open up because of the facial deformity. Doctors cut scar tissue during the procedure to allow him to open his mouth freely, and he has been able to open wider over time. Jahrling Ocular Prosthetics of Boston donated a prosthetic eye to Tomsa, but it's uncomfortable so he wears an eye patch instead. "He's very happy just the way he is now," Yourtee said. When Tomsa returned to Yourtee's house, she thought he had grown taller. But he was measured that was not the case — he just stands with a straighter, more confident demeanor now. "It was just the way he was carrying his person," Yourtee said. Tomsa found a job through his neighbor when he returned home. He installs radiators in people's homes, and hopes to build a house for himself and his wife on his family's property in Rozavlea, a village in northern Romania near the Ukraine border. He and his wife currently live with Tomsa's parents, brother and sister. He is grateful for the kindness that has been bestowed upon him here. "The gifts are more than he ever thought he would have in his lifetime," Yourtee said.
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