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By CHARLES H. BOGINO; Times Leader Staff Writer
Thursday, June 24, 1993     Page: 3A QUICK WORDS: AREA HOSPITAL OFFERS
HOPE TO CROAT

WILKES-BARRE — In mid-October last year, a bullet ripped through Ivica
Cavar’s chest as he was walking through his central Bosnian village of Jajce.
   
The round entered just below his right collarbone, piercing a lung. Doctors
at a field hospital were able to keep him from bleeding to death. But the
bullet also tore through vital nerves and left Cavar with virtually no use of
his right arm.
    On Wednesday, a Wilkes-Barre General Hospital neurosurgeon said he believes
a team of doctors from the Wyoming Valley Health Care System can correct that.
   
Cavar, 21, arrived at the hospital Monday night after a journey that took
him through a refugee camp in Germany and several U.S. airports.
   
Cavar, a Croat, is a beneficiary of a program sponsored by Veterans for
Peace, a private group that seeks to ban war. The program aims to provide free
medical care mainly to children, but also to bystanders caught up in the
strife that has wracked the republics that used to comprise Yugoslavia.
   
After a couple days of tests at General Hospital, doctors pinpointed
Cavar’s problem as nerve damage. Dr. David J. Sedor, a neurosurgeon, plans to
schedule an operation once he receives the results of a test to determine the
extent of the nerve damage.
   
Sedor hopes that by transplanting nerves from Cavar’s legs, doctors will be
able to get his arm working. At the very least, the operation should restore
Cavar’s sense of touch. Right now, Cavar barely can feel his fingers.
   
After the operation, Cavar may have some numbness in his legs, but that
should go away after several days, Sedor said. Cavar can expect 10 days in a
hospital bed if he has the operation and another six-to-12 weeks of physical
therapy. But therapy can begin only after the nerves heal, a process that
could take months, Sedor said.
   
Reporters weren’t allowed to speak Wednesday with Cavar, who has been
reticent and barely agreed Monday night to allow cameras and photographers to
greet him at the hospital door.
   
Nevertheless, Cavar has repeatedly thanked his doctors since he arrived,
Sedor said.
   
“I think he’s very optimistic that somebody’s willing to give him a
chance,” the doctor said. “He’s also happy to be here and out of that war.”