Tuesday, 25 March 2008

Surgeons Repair Cambodian Child's Heart Defect

In this photo released by Children' s Hospital Los Angeles, Sin Chhon is overcome with emotion at seeing her daughter, Davik Teng, 9, from Cambodia after successful heart-surgery by surgeon Dr. Vaughn Starnes at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The surgery was to repair a hole in her daughters heart. The young heart patient was brought to the United States for the heart surgery by the organization 'Hearts Without Boundaries'. (AP Photo/Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Bob Riha, Jr.)

In this photo released by Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Sin Chhon is overcome with emotion at seeing her daughter, Davik Teng, 9, from Cambodia after successful heart-surgery by heart surgeon Dr. Vaughn Starnes at Children's Hospital Los Angeles as family friends Danny Vong left, and Peter Chhun look on. The surgery was to repair a hole in her heart. The young heart patient was brought to the United States for the heart surgery by the organization 'Hearts Without Boundaries'. (AP Photo/Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Bob Riha, Jr.)

In this photo released by Children's Hospital Los Angeles, heart surgeon Dr. Vaughn Starnes, left, from Children's Hospital Los Angeles and his surgical team restart the heart of 9-year-old Davik Teng, from Cambodia, after being removed from Heart/Lung bypass machine during a surgical procedure to repair a hole in her heart. The young heart patient was brought to the United States for the heart surgery by the organization 'Hearts Without Boundaries'. (AP Photo/Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Bob Riha, Jr.)


In this photo released by Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Davik Teng, 9 from Cambodia visits with her mother, left, Sin Chhon, family friend Chantha Bob, 2nd from right, from Long Beach, Calif. and Peter Chhun with Hearts Without Boundaries, prior to her undergoing open-heart surgery to repair a hole in her heart by heart surgeon Dr. Vaughn Starnes, Monday, March 24, 2008 at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Bob Riha, Jr.)
Mar 24, 2008
Los Angeles News

Childrens Hospital Performed Surgery That Her Native Doctors Were Unable To

LOS ANGELES Doctors in her home country had been unable to repair the heart defect of a 9-year-old Cambodian girl, but doctors at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles were able to perform the surgery successfully Monday.

Davik Teng was brought to the United States by Hearts Without Boundaries, a nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian services in Southeast Asia, mainly Cambodia.

A fundraising effort to help Davik had been started when a student at Lincoln Elementary School, Chi Nguyen, saw a poster about Davik's story, and donated $50.

The fifth-grader hadn't told anybody about her donation to Hearts Without Boundaries until her teacher found out and decided to spread the word around the school. Students and their parents responded with enthusiasm.

As of the middle of March, more than $1,700 had been collected and donations were still coming in.

After the two-hour open-heart surgery, Davik was put in the cardiothoracic intensive unit, according to Steve Rutledge of Childrens Hospital. She is expected to be transferred to the regular intensive-care unit Tuesday.

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