Health: CHOP Doctor Getting Special Award For Saving Little Boy

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- February is heart month. We usually think of older people having heart disease, but it's something that also strikes millions of children.

And now, a Philadelphia doctor is getting a special heart award after he helped save a little boy from Glenside.

"Where's your scar, right there?"

Three-year-old Colin Holzhauer had two open heart surgeries right after he was born with congenital heart disease, and there have also been a series of stent procedures.

His mom, Karen Holzhauer, says, "It's rough but it's all we know, so we just keep going forward and we let him do what he wants to do. He acts like a normal 3-year-old."

Karen says Colin's twin brother Andrew also has a heart problem, but it's much less severe.

She remembers when the family first found out.

"We probably cried for about three weeks straight," she said.

His doctor says, "Congenital heart disease is still one of the main causes of death in early childhood even though we've come a long, long way."

The boys are now happy and playful, even at the doctor's office.

Dr. Jonathan Rome at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has performed the catheterizations on Colin to open his narrowed blood vessels.

"That's what delivers the stent."

"I'm kind of like a glorified plumber. I work through the blood vessels and try to fix things that way."

Dr. Rome has developed several pediatric techniques and devices that are less invasive.

"A lot of what we have to do is use tools that are make for other things."

Dr. Rome will receive the smart heart award from the Children's Heart Foundation.

"Dr. Rome is probably one of the most deserving people I know. He is calming. He makes me feel good, he makes you feel safe, he has done wonders for Colin."

Karen is on the board of the foundation, a group that's made up of mostly local moms who have children with serious heart disease.

"We're just trying to raise as much money as we possibly can so that all of our kids can live full lives."

Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect in the United States, affecting about 40,000 babies every year.

Dr. Rome will get the award this weekend when the Children's Heart Foundation holds its annual Sweet Hearts Ball.

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