Linked to life

Alex Durelli has no time for rest. On a 95-degree July afternoon, the 6-year-old can only think about golf. If he has a bucket of 150 balls, every one will be placed on a tee and sent flying through the air. Some land very close to the 100-yard marker on the FDR Golf Course driving range, 20th Street and Pattison Avenue. Alex’s talent is so apparent he has been tapped to participate in a golf program geared for older children.

Talking inside the clubhouse, on the other hand, is a waste of time.

"Grandpop, I want to hit balls," he says to grandfather Sonny Durelli.

Alex heads outside to find his bucket of 100-plus golf balls and quickly returns to the table. The young golfer grabs his three clubs and heads off to the driving range.

Full of energy on the links, it is hard to believe doctors never thought Alex, of 12th and Ritner streets, would live past infancy, much less go on to play his favorite sport.

Alex was born with Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return (TAPVR), a disorder in which the pulmonary veins drain into the right atrium. To survive, infants must have communication between the right and left sides of their heart to allow oxygenated blood to flow through the body. Mom Deann Durelli recalled doctors telling her, "Babies die at birth or within the first couple days of life." She added doctors said there was a chance Alex might need a double lung transplant.

After his birth at University of Pennsylvania Hospital, Alex was rushed to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for surgery, where doctors attached the veins back to his heart.

"I think I handled it the worst of everybody," recalled Sonny, who described himself as a basket case.

A nurse came out of the operating room to tell the family, which had spent four hours in the waiting room, that the surgery went well. Later that night, Sonny said there was a problem with his grandson’s lungs, which were filling up with fluid. There was a possibility Alex would need the transplant to survive, but doctors were able to drain his lungs. After spending more than three weeks in the hospital, Alex was sent home, but needed to use an oxygen tank.

As Alex’s condition improved, doctor visits decreased from every week to every month to every three months. Sonny said, at Alex’s last physical six to nine months ago, the doctor was so impressed by the boy’s condition he wanted to know what the family was doing.

SPENDING SCORCHING SUMMER afternoons playing golf with his grandfather seems to be a factor. After having fun hitting a whiffle ball with a plastic club around the house, Sonny started taking his grandson, then age 3, to FRD Golf Course to try the real thing.

"My grandpop teaches me," said Alex, who is a Tiger Woods fan. "We practice everyday."

It doesn’t matter if the mercury is climbing and the conditions are humid, Alex just wants to hit golf ball after golf ball after golf ball. Last Monday, the Jenks Elementary School student placed a golf ball on the putting green and gently swung the club, hoping for a hole in one. But Alex, wearing an orange T-shirt and khaki shorts, was doing his best work on the driving range, whacking balls 80 yards into the air.

"When I gave him a golf club, that was just the beginning," Sonny said. "He just kept on progressing. Even strangers are amazed how well he can hit the ball.

"The Roman Catholic [High School] coach was telling his kids to watch how Alex swings."

Don Leuthy, director of golf for The First Tee of Philadelphia, which is located at FDR Golf Course, recruited Alex last month for a program targeting ages 7 to 9.

"Alex is a little bit above average," Leuthy said. "He has a lot of enthusiasm. We are going to continue to bring him along."

The First Tee is a World Golf Foundation initiative that provides young people with an opportunity to develop, through golf and character education, values, such as honesty, integrity and sportsmanship.

As he is on the driving range, "All Alex wants to do is hit the ball," Leuthy said.

Alex, a SpongeBob SquarePants fan, also plays baseball at the Southeast Youth Athletic Association, Seventh and Bigler streets. His Yankees finished second in their age group with Alex receiving a trophy for the team’s efforts.

For now, golf is his activity of choice. Alex noted the 14th hole at FDR Golf Course is the hardest, while the first hole is the easiest.

"[The first hole] is the one I play the most," he said.

There are no signs of TAPVR slowing down Alex’s hours on the links. Sonny said on hotter days, he doesn’t let his grandson out in the heat too long, but noted Alex usually likes to hit, then run after, the golf balls. The family keeps a close eye on Alex and, if his face turns blue due to decreased lung capacity, the family will bring him inside to monitor his condition. And the double lung transplant doctors thought Alex might need never did take place, though the possibility still exists.

Playing sports, and especially golf, are aspects of life doctors never thought possible when Alex was born, but he is defying the odds and turning into a promising young star on the links.

"Alex is doing everything that doctors told me he wouldn’t do," Deann said.