Cambodian toddler faces another hurdle before risky surgery

Socheat Nha and her father, Phin Ken. (Photo provided)

04/01/2010
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)

Want to help?
Tax deductible donations to Hearts Without Boundaries can be made online at heartswithoutboundaries.com or by calling Peter Chhun at 818-640-6191.

LONG BEACH - By now Peter Chhun thought he'd be preparing for a ride in the Cambodian New Year parade with another success story for the community to celebrate.

Instead, the life of an impoverished daughter of a Cambodian rice farmer remains in the balance.

The rocky road in the attempt by Chhun and his nonprofit to save the life of Socheat Nha with life-altering heart surgery that is unavailable in her home country continues to be strewn with obstacles.

From grim diagnoses to the heart-rending decision to attempt a risky procedure to confusion about visa status, it seems nothing has come easy.

Now, with travel status cleared and the hard decisions made, one more giant boulder stands between the destitute girl and a medical team that is ready to perform surgery in the Dominican Republic.

Hearts Without Boundaries and Nha's family lack about $5,000 needed to pay for the trip for the operation scheduled for April 18.

The path to this point has been difficult enough and every solution has seemed to raise new challenges.

When Hearts Without Boundaries first chose Socheat to be the next client for life-altering heart surgery, they expected to follow a route that had led to successful heart surgeries for Davik Teng and Soksamnang Vy.

With a U.S. hospital ready to donate its staff and services and family in Long Beach to provide shelter, Chhun thought he needed only to arrange the visas and travel for the ailing child and her father.

The plan was so well oiled that within a week after arrival, Socheat was supposed to be in recovery from surgery to repair a sizable hole in her heart.

However, since Socheat arrived in the U.S. it has all gone sideways. Doctors at Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas determined surgery was too risky to undertake for a number of reasons.

After further testing, it was determined that Socheat could undergo a somewhat risky procedure that would be performed by renowned thoracic surgeon William Novick. The surgeon said he would perform the procedure in the Dominican Republic.

Although Novick is willing to donate his services, Hearts Without Boundaries needed to raise about $5,000 for the hospital and its costs, plus arrange transportation and lodging in the Dominican Republic during recuperation for Socheat, her father and Chhun.

For awhile it looked as if Socheat and her father wouldn't even be allowed to travel to the Caribbean, but that confusion was straightened out.

However, Chhun, the founder of Hearts Without Boundaries, says his fledgling all-volunteer nonprofit organization has simply run out of funds since it learned that Socheat could not be treated in the U.S.

He is further frustrated by what he sees as a lack of progress by Socheat's family in Long Beach, who he said agreed to help raise funds for Socheat.

Chhun says he has already spent about $4,000 of his own money to arrange the visas and bring Socheat and her father, Phin Ken, to the U.S. and he hasn't been reimbursed.

"I've asked the family to step forward and help out but so far I haven't seen any funds yet," Chhun said. "We took the lead on this, and we've seen the kindness of a lot of donors, but we're still short. Here's Socheat's life and it depends on our organization and funds."

Kenha Heang, Socheat's cousin, feels Chhun is being somewhat unfair to his family, though he does acknowledge it may have been a bit naive about fundraising.

"It's very difficult. I've been contacting everyone I know. It's hard for us," Heang said.

Heang says he just left school, his sister is in school and his parents are immigrants and don't understand the expectations.

Heang says he hopes to raise some money from his church, and his family has managed to raise about $2,000, mostly from out-of-state relatives. He says he will take out personal loans if he must and try to raise funds after Socheat's surgery.

However, until the money is in the bank, the girl's life is in the balance and the clock is ticking.

greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291.