A man brought from Haiti to Santa Rosa for critical heart surgery successfully underwent it Monday.
Donald Victor Leopold, 24, had an aortic valve replaced at Sutter Medical Center, which supplied the operation at no charge.
"Initially, everything looks great," said Dale Morrison, a Ukiah cardiologist.
Morrison met Leopold in Haiti soon after a 2010 earthquake devastated the country. After discovering that Leopold would not survive without a valve replacement, he directed an effort to bring him to the United States and to find a hospital willing to provide the surgery.
"I feel very good about it," Morrison said of the results, shortly after the three-hour surgery concluded.
Leopold's condition - congenital aortic valve disease - essentially weakened his heart by forcing it work harder because blood pumped out of it flowed right back in.
Before the surgery, Morrison said the Port-au-Prince native would not have survived long without the procedure.
Leopold's surgeon, Keith Korver, was in the operating room again later Monday and could not provide additional details.
"Everything is OK; he is fine so far," said Leopold's brother, Richardson Victor Leopold, pronouncing himself "very relieved."
Leopold is expected to be in the hospital for more than a week.
You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 521-5212 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com.
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