CRAIG GIMA / NOVEMBER 2006Sythan Leam, 14, shown here helping with chores at home in Anlong Thor, Cambodia, will come to Hawaii for medical treatment.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
By Craig Gima
cgima@starbulletin.com
Honolulu Star Bulletin
The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh issued a visa yesterday to a 14-year-old Cambodian girl so she can come to Hawaii for medical treatment that could enable her to walk for the first time.
Sythan Leam, whose story was featured in Sunday's Star-Bulletin, should arrive in Honolulu this weekend, said Dr. Gunther Hintz, president and founder of the Hawaii charity Medicorps.
Hintz brought Leam's case to the attention of Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu. Doctors at Shriners have agreed to examine and treat Sythan, who suffered a severe burn as an infant in her rural village of Anlong Thor in central Cambodia. When the burn healed, her left leg was bent at the knee with her foot and thigh fused together by scar tissue.
In an e-mail from Cambodia, Hintz said unless there is a last-minute hitch, he and Leam will travel to Bangkok on Saturday and fly to Honolulu on Sunday.
It will be Leam's first airplane flight.
Leam will stay with local Cambodian families in Honolulu when she is not at Shriners.
Hintz said he has also arranged for Leam to live with a family and go to school in the city of Siem Reap in Cambodia after she returns from Hawaii. Leam's care and schooling will be overseen by Sedtha Long, a Medicorps board member who has also been looking after Sok Oeuy, a Cambodian boy who was treated at Shriners six years ago after his legs were nearly blown off in a land mine explosion.
Sythan Leam, whose story was featured in Sunday's Star-Bulletin, should arrive in Honolulu this weekend, said Dr. Gunther Hintz, president and founder of the Hawaii charity Medicorps.
Hintz brought Leam's case to the attention of Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu. Doctors at Shriners have agreed to examine and treat Sythan, who suffered a severe burn as an infant in her rural village of Anlong Thor in central Cambodia. When the burn healed, her left leg was bent at the knee with her foot and thigh fused together by scar tissue.
In an e-mail from Cambodia, Hintz said unless there is a last-minute hitch, he and Leam will travel to Bangkok on Saturday and fly to Honolulu on Sunday.
It will be Leam's first airplane flight.
Leam will stay with local Cambodian families in Honolulu when she is not at Shriners.
Hintz said he has also arranged for Leam to live with a family and go to school in the city of Siem Reap in Cambodia after she returns from Hawaii. Leam's care and schooling will be overseen by Sedtha Long, a Medicorps board member who has also been looking after Sok Oeuy, a Cambodian boy who was treated at Shriners six years ago after his legs were nearly blown off in a land mine explosion.
3 comments:
Good luck & best wishes Sythan!
Ordinary Khmers
KHMENG WAT KHNONG SROK
TO ALL OF YOU LEAVING IN THE FREE WORLD..SIC!
IT IS NOW THE RIGHT TIME TO SHOW YOUR COMPASSSION... PLEASE ORGANIZE A FUND-RAISING FOR THE GIRL! SHE IS NOT YUON... NOT PRO-HUN SEN...JUST AN UNFORTUNATED GIRL AND SHE NEED YOUR LOVE AND HELP...
PLEASE GIVE HER A HAND AS YOU CAN!
KHMENG WAT KHNONG SROKtkbwlqv
She is such a beautidul young girl. She will have a great future.
Don't you worry my friend kmeng wat knong srok, she will be safed and have a bight future. My support is on the way.
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