Tara O'Hea's Profile

Among the children who took to the streets in Joliet, III. last Halloween, one trickor-treater stood out: 5-year-old Donnie Wartenberg, alias Spider-Man, who went from house to house pushing a cart containing the cylinder of oxygen that is his connection to life.


Born with a host of congenital defects that resulted in the loss of one lung, Donnie (July 16) had spent all but four months of his life in Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Then last September the little boy came home, where Winnie the Pooh sheets and Mickey Mouse pillowcases in his bedroom offer a striking contrast to the battery of equipment that helps keep him alive.


Tutored every school day, Donnie also participates in kindergarten class by audio hookup. He pledges allegiance to a tiny flag his mother holds, sings America the Beautiful and brightly answers "here" to the roll call. Afternoons, he loves to ride in the family van, sometimes stopping at Brown's Chicken to visit his three sisters, who work there, and nibble fried mushrooms.


While Donnie has adjusted well to living at home, he still must have round-the-clock nursing. (Doctors hope that by adolescence he will be able to breathe on his own.) Delighted to have Donnie back, his five brothers and sisters always slip into his room to kiss him good-night. "I have a sign on the door that says 'Keep out,' " says Betty Wartenberg, who isn't really complaining, "and not one of them reads it."