Will Koinzan has a good heart.

And it’s not because the 7-year-old had a surgical aortic repair job when he was only six days old.

On a recent routine checkup with his cardiologist, Dr. Greg Brames, Will decided to make the doctor’s office the benefactor of his gift of turning seven.

The two dozen kids at Will’s April birthday bowling party came bearing books, games, trucks, bubbles and a Mr. Potato Head.

On Friday, the wiry, sandy-haired first-grader cut out from school early to present those toys in four wheeled baskets to Pediatric Cardiology Associates in Colorado Springs.

“I was expecting one little thing,” the doctor said as he sifted through Will’s loot. “I’ve never had a kid do this.”

Most of the toys will be kept in exam rooms, which should make both the patients and the doctors happy.

“A screaming 2-year-old isn’t easy to examine,” Brames said.

Many items are for little kids, because those older often have portable electronic games or play with their parents’ cell phones.

“Certainly, it helps when a kid comes in and is nervous,” Brames said. “It will leave a first impression this is fun place and hopefully eliminate the intimidations.”

Will’s mom, Melissa, remembers the office tests her son endured over the years of monitoring his congenital defect. The procedures don’t hurt, she said, but require the kid to stay still.

“It sounds simple for the adult, but it’s not easy for the little guy,” she said. “The blood pressures he would never sit still for. When he had toys in the room it was easy to distract him.”

The toys will also help entertain siblings who often go along to appointments, as is the case with Will, the oldest of three children.

According to the American Heart Association, about 36,000 children are born with a heart defect each year.

“You are a special person to do this,” the doctor told Will. “That really speaks a lot of who you are, that you think about others. That will take you a long way in life.”

—

For information about Mended Little Hearts, a support group for parents of children with congenital heart defects and disease: http://thebeatgoesonmlh.blogspot.com/ or 719-649-7226.For more about congenital heart defects: americanheart.org

—

Contact the writer at 636-0253.

Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. Greg Brames looked through a kaleidoscope, one of the many toys donated to the doctor’s office by patient Will Koinzan,7. Will donated all his toys from his seventh birthday to his doctor so children will have toys to play with while they wait. Will had heart surgery when he was a few days old and sees Dr. Brames for follow-up appointments. Photo by CAROL LAWRENCE, THE GAZETTE