Chance meeting saves an Olympic dream
A Romanian athlete arrived at a suburban hospital carrying her Olympic dream.
Lying in a hospital bed last week at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, Miruna Mataoanu listened with the same intensity she harnesses when launching into a high jump.
She nodded as her doctor explained how he will fix the torn cartilage in her knee during her second surgery in three months. The first, in Romania, didn't help the 24-year-old.
It's her left leg, the one she uses to propel her body more than 6 feet into the air and to contort herself over a bar without touching it.
It's the same leg that helped her score a 1.90-meter, or 6.23-foot, jump last year at the world championships in Japan, taking 13th place.
And the same one she hopes will carry her to an even higher jump this summer at the Olympic games in Beijing.
Surgery for anyone can bring worry. For Mataoanu, her Olympic dreams in Beijing hinged on the procedure -- which happened only after a chance meeting at her sister's church.
"This is my last chance. I thought the first time (after surgery) I'd be good, and look what happened," she said. "I'm not worried about the surgery. I'm more worried about pressure. Time is running out."
Dr. Daniel T. Kuesis marked her left shin with an "X" in an attempt to ease her nerves by explaining more about the surgery. Her older sister, Ruxandra Dumitru of Palatine, stood at her side providing support.
A recent graduate of the University of Alabama, the Bucharest native came to the United States to study and compete as a high jumper for the university on scholarship.
Competing seems etched in her DNA; her mother is a track-and-field coach and her father coaches soccer. At 11, she began high jump training.
She has been tapped to be on the Olympic team for Romania. By mid-January, Mataoanu was due in Florida to train for the games, which will be held Aug. 8-24. She at least wants to match the 1.94-meter jump -- a personal best -- that she scored at last year's world championships. Her final score fell slightly short of that record jump.
Instead of training, though, she finds herself in a hospital room.
The surgery is key to alleviating pain that first began nagging her last February. Anti-inflammatory medication provided temporary relief for the world championships in September.
She underwent surgery to fix the cartilage tear in Romania on Oct. 11, but by December when she visited her sister in Palatine, her symptoms had worsened.
For the Christmas celebration, Dumitru took her to St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church in Palatine.
After communion, Dumitru asked the Rev. Peter G. Balkas if he could help.
Balkas brought out healing oil to use on Mataoanu's knee. And key to her Olympic hopes, he produced his cellular phone with a contact number for Dr. Kuesis, the church member who performed the surgery. He and Alexian Brothers agreed to waive much of the fee for the outpatient surgery as a courtesy to the Romanian athlete.
Whether they call it a coincidence or divine intervention, everyone involved is thankful for the opportunity that has put the Olympic athlete on the path to Beijing.
"I think it's a true blessing. I think the mystery of Christmas had a lot to do with it," Balkas said. "It was great to see that something really good happened."
After the roughly hourlong surgery at Alexian Brothers last week, Dr. Kuesis gave Mataoanu an excellent prognosis.
"You hear all the bad things, but you never hear about the good people," Dumitru said. "They all went through these great efforts for her."
Mataoanu, who is staying with her sister, expects to report to Florida by next month for training with her Alabama coach, Sidney Cartwright.
"I've been asking my coach, 'Do you think I'll be able to come back?' And he says, 'You know you will be back,'" she said.
Cartwright oozed optimism during a phone interview. Training can begin once Mataoanu is able to walk, he said. She will need at least 10 weeks to get her strength back to compete in Beijing.
"It's a blessing in how it all happened," he said of the lucky connection between the priest and the surgeon that gave new life to Mataoanu's Olympic dream.
"Faith is a serious thing," he said. "That's how things work. Some things are just destined."