Look into 14-year-old Brandon Melzark’s hazel eyes and find the spirit of Christmas. It is there, right behind the youthful twinkle and just past the sparkle of Christmas lights that brighten his room at Children’s Hospital.

“I think he has more decorations here than I have at home,” said his mother, Anne Volmering.

This year Brandon’s family will bring Christmas with them as they spend the holiday in his Seattle hospital room.

Nothing can dampen Melzark’s Christmas spirit — not even in a year that has seen him under the watchful eyes of doctors since August.

He underwent major heart surgery and survived a 22-day coma, among other health problems. But Brandon has a charming tolerance of his situation, and Anne has one wish for her son this holiday.

“I just want to get to rehab so we can go home and we can get back to everything,” she said.

Brandon Melzark has lived in Oak Harbor the majority of his life. He shares his home with his mom, Anne, step-dad Vince, a German shepherd named Puck, a gerbil, some fish and a snake.

He was born with hypoplastic left-heart syndrome. The left side of his heart, including the aorta, aortic valve, left ventricle and mitral valve, was underdeveloped.

Anne was a 25-year-old mother at Brandon’s birth.

“I don’t think I was scared of what was going on. I just had to experience it and try not to panic,” she said.

At 2 ½ months of age Brandon made history. He became the 145th infant heart transplant recipient. The surgery was performed in California at Loma Linda University by Dr. Leonard Bailey, the same doctor who performed the famous cross-species heart transplant on Baby Fae.

Brandon’s transplant surgery is ancient history, but its effects live on. Medications became an every day part of his life as anti-rejection drugs and others are required twice daily. But that doesn’t get him down. Brandon has thrived as a youngster growing up attending Olympic View Elementary and North Whidbey Middle School. Before his most recent surgery, Brandon was always an active kid.

“He’s a goofball, just a good kid,” Vince Volmering, his step-dad, said. “If you look at pictures of him you see, he’s always go, go, go.”

Brandon participated in Boy Scouts, loves taking family outings and baseball has always been in his life.

“It’s been baseball, always, continuously,” Volmering said.

Last Little League season was the first he missed since he was five years old. On his teams he was often found at second base and sometimes on the pitcher’s mound.

Anne Volmering said her son is crazy over watching the sport. Because this is Mariners country, she lowered her voice as she shared Brandon’s favorite team — “the Yankees,” in a whisper.

The family loves family outings, barbecues at home and summer camping trips to places like the Marble Mountains.

Brandon volunteers at the library, a frequent favorite haunt of his.

“He hangs out there all the time. He loves reading,” his mom said.

Brandon is the pied piper of other children.

“He makes friends where ever he goes,” Anne said. “He’s one of those in-between kids who can fit in anywhere.”

This fall he would have walked down the halls of Oak Harbor High School as a freshman.

“He’s been there in spirit,” said his mother. Missing his freshman year has not dampened Brandon’s pride in the Wildcats, who won the 4A football championship in November. He has the victory newspaper hanging in his room and hopes to soon catch up with his class and join them in those hallways.

“Brandon’s spirit and will to fight are incredibly strong,” Volmering said. “I believe he reflects the strength of this community and his journey is something we can all believe in as the Christmas season rolls around.”

As Anne Volmering likes to explain it, there is Brandon’s regular life — and then there is life after August 15.

That day earlier this year, Brandon underwent an eight-hour, open-heart surgery at Yale University in Connecticut to repair an aneurism on his aorta the size of a grapefruit.

“Only part of his heart could be fixed when he was young so it has continued to grow since then,” she said of the aneurism.

The surgery was no surprise. The family knew about the aneurism for years.

“It was just a matter of preparing ourselves before it was done,” Anne said.

That meant streamlining activities for an energetic Brandon and a juggling of finances.

Considering the difficulty of the surgery, especially on a transplant heart, Volmering said it went well. But approximately 48 hours after surgery Brandon suffered a “neurological insult” and fell into a coma where he remained for 22 days.

Anne spent nearly every moment by his side.

“I was always next to him. I might leave to take a shower at our hotel room but people would have to pull me away to go eat,” she said.

Brandon’s grandmother, Gerri Musgrave of Oak Harbor, along with his aunt and cousin also stayed in Connecticut. Vince Volmering received temporary orders to Connecticut so he could be with his family.

“It was only supposed to be a few weeks and then he’d be back home, but this has turned into such a journey,” Anne said.

After weeks of struggling to regain his health Brandon was finally stable enough to transport to Seattle Children’s by medical flight in November. But during the flight on a medivac-equipped Learjet, his right lung began to bleed.

When he arrived back in Washington Brandon was stabilized. After several weeks of regaining strength, Brandon is now looking forward to starting a rehabilitation program.

“Our outlook is good. It’s a challenge at times but we’re all positive everything’s going to be fine,” Anne said.

Brandon continues to be unable to speak — his vocal chords are muted by a tracheotomy tube.

He “talks” in nods, gestures and animated facial expressions. He continues to be the same happy-go-lucky kid he’s always been.

“He still has his sense of humor,” Anne said. “We’re a family that laughs. You have to laugh.”

Brandon became a newspaper carrier for the Whidbey News-Times on Dec. 21, 2005. Circulation manager Lynette Reeff knew from the moment Brandon walked into her office that he was the kid for the job.

“He was very enthusiastic and excited about it,” she said.

Her investment in hiring Melzark paid off. He was the carrier for routes 127 and 167. He delivered papers for the area of Pioneer Way to SE Eighth Avenue to Regatta in the southeast part of Oak Harbor.

“He paid special attention to all of his customers and never missed anyone,” Reeff said.

The plan after surgery was that Brandon would be back to his route, school and everyday life after a few weeks. When things didn’t run accordingly, Reeff held on a little longer.

“The plan was to hold his route until mid-September, but we held it until October when we had to fill it,” she said.

But she’ll always have a job for Brandon. Reeff can’t wait to have her all-star paperboy back.

“He’s the kind of kid you don’t find today — wanting to work and enthusiastic about it the whole time. Anytime he’s able to come back we’ll have a route waiting for him.”

Brandon won’t be delivering the paper this Christmas, but Reeff is counting on him for 2007.