Wednesday, 24 December 2008

Boy From Cambodia To Las Vegas For Heart Surgery

Child Heart

WCSH6.com

(NBC) -- A little boy named 'Lucky' is living up to his name after traveling from Cambodia to Las Vegas to have his broken heart fixed.Dr. Michael Ciccolo performed the operation at Sunrise Children's Hospital.

"The child has a hole between the lower pumping chambers. It's important to fix significant forms of heart disease, because if you don't they will not have a normal life expectancy," he explained.

The baby's name means "Lucky" in English. His family thinks it's fitting that he had the procedure in Las Vegas. They couldn't afford to pay for the surgery, so it was arranged through a charitable organization called Hearts Without Boundaries.

The hospital and the doctor donated their services as part of this international effort. "It's quite a gift, not only to the patient, but to the patient's family. So it makes us feel very proud of the fact that we're able to do this here," said Dr. Ciccolo.

Word of the surgery's success was welcome news in Cambodia and Lucky's progress has been excellent. He should lead a normal life with no additional surgeries.

(NBC)

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