3-year-old patient dresses up as OU Health doctor for Halloween

MCALESTER, Okla. — A three-year-old boy from McAlester has spent much of his life at the OU Health Children’s Hospital.

So when it came time for a Halloween costume, he didn’t ask to be the superhero you’d see in a comic book but the superhero he is most familiar with: his doctor.

Azrael Thompson has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a rare heart defect present at birth. OU Health says in his case, the left side of his heart is extremely underdeveloped, meaning it can’t pump blood well and the other side overworks to compensate.

OU Health’s Dr. Herold Burkhart performed the first of four surgeries when Azrael was one week old. He has his second surgery when he was one month old, his third at 10 months and his fourth was this past May, at age 3.

Azrael’s family was at the store last month and when they say he saw the doctors costume and had to have it. They bought a second doctor outfit because he wouldn’t take the first outfit off and it got pretty dirty.

Azrael dresses as Dr. Burkhart for Halloween because he is the family hero.

“Without Dr. Burkhart’s compassion and expertise, my son, Azrael, would not be alive,” Tiara Thompson, Azrael’s mother, says.

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