Alex Morales shows pictures to Cambodian heart surgery patient Soksamnang "Lucky" Vy, 14 months, and his mother, Ratha Pang, during a goodbye dinner at Sophy's Restaurant in Long Beach on Thursday. (Jeff Gritchen / Staff Photographer)
Soksamnang "Lucky" Vy sleeps while waiting for his flight early Friday as the toddler and his mom begin the journey back to their village outside Phnom Penh, following his recovery from heart surgery. (Jeff Gritchen / Staff Photographer)
Mother and her 14-month-old son board plane after his recovery from open heart surgery.
Long Beach Press-Telegram
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/13/2009
LOS ANGELES -- For a young Cambodian boy whose name translates to "Lucky Friday," leaving the comforts of the United States for a bamboo hut in Cambodia on Friday the 13th, no less, might seem like a turn of bad luck.
But Ratha Pang, the mother of the 14-month-old boy, was all smiles early Friday morning as she prepared to take her son home after his successful December open heart surgery and recovery.
Soksamnang Vy, called Lucky by most who have come to know him in past months, had a dime-sized hole in his heart near the aorta repaired and has been declared fully fit to return to his village outside Phnom Penh.
Vy was brought to the United States for the operation, virtually unavailable to him in his home country, by Hearts Without Boundaries, a fledgling Long Beach nonprofit.
Without the surgery, Lucky would have lived a life of gradually reduced heart function, chronic fatigue and shortened life expectancy.
At his last checkup in February, cardiologist Dr. Paul Grossfeld declared Lucky's open- heart surgery a "100 percent success."
As Pang stood among a dozen or so family members and well-wishers and waited for her 12:40 a.m. flight at Tom Bradley terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, she continually steepled her fingers in the Cambodian gesture of respect and
expressed her thanks in both Khmer and English.
Long Beach Press-Telegram
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/13/2009
LOS ANGELES -- For a young Cambodian boy whose name translates to "Lucky Friday," leaving the comforts of the United States for a bamboo hut in Cambodia on Friday the 13th, no less, might seem like a turn of bad luck.
But Ratha Pang, the mother of the 14-month-old boy, was all smiles early Friday morning as she prepared to take her son home after his successful December open heart surgery and recovery.
Soksamnang Vy, called Lucky by most who have come to know him in past months, had a dime-sized hole in his heart near the aorta repaired and has been declared fully fit to return to his village outside Phnom Penh.
Vy was brought to the United States for the operation, virtually unavailable to him in his home country, by Hearts Without Boundaries, a fledgling Long Beach nonprofit.
Without the surgery, Lucky would have lived a life of gradually reduced heart function, chronic fatigue and shortened life expectancy.
At his last checkup in February, cardiologist Dr. Paul Grossfeld declared Lucky's open- heart surgery a "100 percent success."
As Pang stood among a dozen or so family members and well-wishers and waited for her 12:40 a.m. flight at Tom Bradley terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, she continually steepled her fingers in the Cambodian gesture of respect and
expressed her thanks in both Khmer and English.
Meanwhile, Lucky snoozed peacefully in a stroller.
"I've been waiting for tonight for a long time," she said through translation. "I think tonight it's really true that my son will have a regular life and I'm ready to go home."
Pang said she was eager to see her mother, her family and her husband.
She added that she hoped Hearts Without Boundaries and other organizations would be able to continue their work for poor families with no access to life-saving procedures.
"Thank you so much," she concluded in English.
Before leaving for the airport, Pang and Lucky were joined by about 20 friends and family members at Sophy's Restaurant in Long Beach, where they laughed and talked excitedly.
The scene was markedly different from last July when Davik Teng, the first patient saved by Hearts Without Boundaries, and her mother, Sin Chhon, returned home.
Chhon wept repeatedly and didn't want to return to the hardships of her life in Cambodia.
Pang, although she returns to an uncertain work and economic future, was able to remind herself that the journey was for her son and his health, according to friends and family.
"She says `America is nice, but Cambodia is home,"' Leakhena Chhuon, a board member of Hearts Without Boundaries, said of Pang.
Peter Chhun, founder of Hearts Without Boundaries, said he is beginning fundraising for a third child.
Chhun said there is a boy in Cambodia named Bunlak Song who is 14 months old and has several holes in his heart and is in dire need of surgery.
Chhun, a member of the advisory board at Miller Children's Hospital, says he has been negotiating with the Long Beach hospital to host the procedure.
Sunrise Children's Hospital in Las Vegas provided its staff and facilities for Lucky's operation and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles donated its services for Davik.
Chhun estimated it cost his organization $10,000 to pay for Lucky's trip, medications and incidentals and $16,000 for Davik.
However, as he made his way toward the departure area for the flight back to Cambodia, Chhun couldn't imagine doing anything else.
"Just to see another child breathe normal and live a normal life, that's a great thing," Chhun said. "There's no end, we'll continue to do this."
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