LOS ANGELES - Lim La leaned against the railing waiting for the first glance of her grandnephew. Nearby her son, David Kem, husband Richard and other family members also waited eagerly.
Shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday, Vy Soksamnang - accompanied by his mother, Ratha Pang, and Peter Chhun of Hearts Without Boundaries - turned the corner at the arrivals area of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX, and the tearful family reunion was under way. Only Vy, sleeping soundly in his mother's arms, seemed unaffected by the meeting.
Vy is an 11-month-old boy from an impoverished village near Phnom Penh, Cambodia, who came to the United States for life-altering heart surgery that was not readily available in his home
Earlier this year, the Kem family had learned of Vy's heart ailment and was devastated. By coincidence, David Kem had earlier volunteered to help Chhun, the founder of Long Beach nonprofit Hearts Without Boundaries, which had helped a girl with the same ailment.
Vy is the second child Chhun has brought out of Cambodia for the open-heart procedure. The first, 9-year-old Davik Teng, returned to her village outside of Battambang in northwest Cambodia. Teng was also given a follow-up exam during Chhun's latest trip. Although she still has what doctors call "depressed" heart function, she is recovering well from the surgery and is living an energetic, happy life.
Like Teng, Vy was diagnosed with a ventricular septal defect, or hole in the heart. It is a condition that left untreated leads to fatigue, breathing problems and eventually causes irreversible lung damage.
The Children's Heart Center, a Las Vegas hospital, has offered its staff and facilities for the operation. Although a date has not been set, it should be sometime after Thanksgiving.
The heart procedure is routine by Western standards, but requires a heart-lung machine and expertise often not readily available in Cambodia.
Chhun and Hearts Without Boundaries is arranging transportation and lodging for the boy and his mother.
Initially, Hearts Without Boundaries, with the help of Susan Grossfeld and her San Diego cardiologist husband, Paul Grossfeld, tried to broker a deal with Rady Children's Hospital, where Paul Grossfeld works.
When the California hospital backed out, Susan Grossfeld contacted Dr. William Evans in Las Vegas, who helped persuade his hospital to help.
Earlier this month, Chhun accompanied Variety Lifeline, which offered simple heart procedures to children in Siem Reap. It was here Vy was examined and pronounced fit for the trip to the U.S.
Vy lives in poverty in a bamboo hut with no electricity or running water. His mother is unemployed. His father is a border guard stationed far from home.
At a post-trip meeting at Sophy's Restaurant, an exhausted Chhun said the trip went smoothly and he was excited to be home.
Pang, although she suffered from motion sickness both on the plane and in the car ride to Long Beach, was happy and admittedly overwhelmed by her first encounter with the United States.
"It's so clean and so advanced," she said.
But mostly she was happy her child would get a chance at a full life.
"I am so happy, I have no words to describe," she said through translation. "Thank you so much for helping give my son life."
Vy and Pang will rest and prepare for the surgery at the home of the Kem family in North Long Beach.
Hearts Without Boundaries is raising funds for Vy's journey, food and medicine in the United States. Information is available by calling Chhun at 818-640-6191 or going to www.heartswithoutboundaries.org.
greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291
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