Phin Ken, and his daughter, Socheat Nha during the the Cambodian New Year Parade in Long Beach, Calif. on April 4, 2010. (Jeff Gritchen / Long Beach Press-Telegram)Socheat, Hearts Without Boundaries sponsors expected in Long Beach Saturday
04/26/2010
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)
Just five days after a tricky 4-hour open heart procedure to patch a hole in her heart and repair an artery, the 3-year-old was pronounced fit to leave the hospital.
She will spend the rest of the week recuperating and, pending the outcome of an exam on Friday, is expected to fly back to Long Beach on Saturday.
Peter Chhun, the head of a small Long Beach nonprofit that helped broker the operation, was overjoyed at the successful outcome of an improbable journey.
When Hearts Without Boundaries accepted Socheat as a recipient of one of the heart surgeries the group arranges for destitute children, it was planned that she would have an operation done in Las Vegas.
The first two Hearts Without Boundaries patients, 9-year-old Davik Teng in 2008 and 1-year-old Soksamnang Vy in 2009, sailed through their open-heart procedures and are now fully recovered.
However, Socheat's ailment was more complicated. Doctors in Las Vegas, who repaired Vy's heart, canceled her surgery because of complications and fear she would not survive the operation. At the time the blood pressure in her heart was high and the damaged pulmonary tract, which connects the heart and lungs, complicated the procedure.
At the time it was feared the girl would have to return to her village untreated and live a hard life as her heart and lungs slowly deteriorated.
However, Chhun sought a second opinion. With the help of cardiologist Paul Grossfeld in San Diego, Chhun was able to connect with International Children's Heart Foundation, which specializes in treating children from Third World countries.
That organization offered to perform the procedure in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Socheat was also put on medication that brought down the blood pressure.
Chhun had to raise funds to cover travel expenses and to pay for the hospital, although the surgeon donated his services.
On Wednesday Dr. Rodrigo Soto performed the operation.
By Monday the fear and angst were finally beginning to subside. Chhun said as Socheat was being prepared for discharge he saw the girl's father, Phin Ken, smile, really smile, for the first time in weeks.
"We have crossed the largest ocean of our lives in a little canoe," Chhun said. "We survived all the storms and we just kept paddling. This is the biggest day in (Socheat's) life, but it's the biggest day in our lives too."
Grossfeld will be available to monitor Socheat's recovery after she returns to Long Beach.
Soto said Socheat may need more medical help in six to 12 years. In the interim, Socheat, who is about the size of an average 1-year-old in the U.S., will be able to grow normally for the first time in her short life. Once she is fully recuperated, Socheat and her father will return to Cambodia.
Chhun plans to traverse the city with Socheat after she is recovered to show donors what their contributions meant.
Anyone interested in making tax deductible donations to Hearts Without Boundaries to help it bring more children to the U.S. and improve care in Cambodia can visit the group's website heartswithoutboundaries.org or call Chhun at 818-640-6191.
greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291
04/26/2010
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)
Anyone interested in making tax deductible donations to Hearts Without Boundaries to help it bring more children to the U.S. and improve care in Cambodia can visit the group's website heartswithoutboundaries.org or call Chhun at 818-640-6191.At 11 a.m. Socheat Nha, the Cambodian toddler brought from her country for life-extending heart surgery, walked out of Children's Hospital in Santiago, Dominican Republic, into the Caribbean sunshine.
Just five days after a tricky 4-hour open heart procedure to patch a hole in her heart and repair an artery, the 3-year-old was pronounced fit to leave the hospital.
She will spend the rest of the week recuperating and, pending the outcome of an exam on Friday, is expected to fly back to Long Beach on Saturday.
Peter Chhun, the head of a small Long Beach nonprofit that helped broker the operation, was overjoyed at the successful outcome of an improbable journey.
When Hearts Without Boundaries accepted Socheat as a recipient of one of the heart surgeries the group arranges for destitute children, it was planned that she would have an operation done in Las Vegas.
The first two Hearts Without Boundaries patients, 9-year-old Davik Teng in 2008 and 1-year-old Soksamnang Vy in 2009, sailed through their open-heart procedures and are now fully recovered.
However, Socheat's ailment was more complicated. Doctors in Las Vegas, who repaired Vy's heart, canceled her surgery because of complications and fear she would not survive the operation. At the time the blood pressure in her heart was high and the damaged pulmonary tract, which connects the heart and lungs, complicated the procedure.
At the time it was feared the girl would have to return to her village untreated and live a hard life as her heart and lungs slowly deteriorated.
However, Chhun sought a second opinion. With the help of cardiologist Paul Grossfeld in San Diego, Chhun was able to connect with International Children's Heart Foundation, which specializes in treating children from Third World countries.
That organization offered to perform the procedure in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Socheat was also put on medication that brought down the blood pressure.
Chhun had to raise funds to cover travel expenses and to pay for the hospital, although the surgeon donated his services.
On Wednesday Dr. Rodrigo Soto performed the operation.
By Monday the fear and angst were finally beginning to subside. Chhun said as Socheat was being prepared for discharge he saw the girl's father, Phin Ken, smile, really smile, for the first time in weeks.
"We have crossed the largest ocean of our lives in a little canoe," Chhun said. "We survived all the storms and we just kept paddling. This is the biggest day in (Socheat's) life, but it's the biggest day in our lives too."
Grossfeld will be available to monitor Socheat's recovery after she returns to Long Beach.
Soto said Socheat may need more medical help in six to 12 years. In the interim, Socheat, who is about the size of an average 1-year-old in the U.S., will be able to grow normally for the first time in her short life. Once she is fully recuperated, Socheat and her father will return to Cambodia.
Chhun plans to traverse the city with Socheat after she is recovered to show donors what their contributions meant.
Anyone interested in making tax deductible donations to Hearts Without Boundaries to help it bring more children to the U.S. and improve care in Cambodia can visit the group's website heartswithoutboundaries.org or call Chhun at 818-640-6191.
greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291
1 comment:
thank god for making her life now getting better now.
god bless her.
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