Life-Changing Heart Surgeries for Kids in Vietnam

Thousands of children in Vietnam younger than five years of age suffer from heart disease. Children’s heart disease is the most common birth defect globally and 90% of the children born in developing countries have no access to the care they need. With labored breathing and lack of energy, these children are not able to attend school and run around and play like other children. Many are stuck in hospital beds spending all their energy on taking their next breath. Even if a child has access to the care they need, too often the family can’t afford to pay the medical expenses. For those who never receive heart surgery, a lifetime of a weak heart and poor health takes a toll, and many children are unable to complete their education. This means that as adults, they are often confined to physical labor roles which are extremely taxing on their health, or unable to work at all.

This was the fate facing one teenage girl, Kieu, before MEDRIX intervened and provided sponsorship for heart surgery. We'd like to share her story with you today to illustrate the true long-term impact that heart surgery sponsorship can have. Healthy lives open the door to education and hope, and your donations have truly made an impact in the lives of the children we've sponsored for surgery in Vietnam. While the story shared below is from several years ago, the underlying impact will be the same for the kids that your donation provided surgery for. 

Kieu was 16 years old when she underwent life changing heart surgery in 2011. Kieu was devastated by her diagnosis of having pulmonary arterial hypertension–she was becoming more and more exhausted and unable to keep up with her school work and her 11 km commute to school (by bike!). She underwent corrective surgery, but didn’t return to school right away due to continued exhaustion. This is very normal for people recovering from heart surgery, and strength needs to be gradually built up again. Her mother, fearing that school would be too difficult for Kieu, was hesitant to have her return. MEDRIX provides sponsorship on the condition that the child will be allowed to return to school and complete their education; when we learned about Kieu's mother's fears, we intervened to find a solution. It was agreed that Kieu would receive bike rides from classmates until her strength returned. Today Kieu is a 21 year old student at Hue Medical College in Hue, Vietnam, studying to be a pharmacist! None of this would have been possible without the generosity of MEDRIX donors. 

This is just one out of 70 individual stories of people that MEDRIX has sponsored for life-saving heart surgery over the years. Each person has their own dreams, ambitions and passions that simply cannot be achieved with congenital heart defects and poor health. Your gift to provide heart surgery sponsorship goes beyond merely providing the surgery: it impacts the opportunities and lifestyles of children and young adults exponentially. We sincerely thank you for your support and for your investment in the future of MEDRIX and the people that we serve in Vietnam. 

Links:

• Hear Kieu's story in her own words!

Thanks to your generosity and support, MEDRIX has been able to sponsor 9 children and young adults for life-saving heart surgery in 2016! You have given an incredible gift of life and hope to the people who have undergone surgery so far, and the long-term effects will be exponential. On our recent trip to meet with some of the potential patients in February, MEDRIX staff was reminded that it is not just a sponsorship that is provided through your donation: it is truly a gift of a new chance at life. Every person has a story, but we got to hear and experience the story of one young boy, now called “Hùng the Hero”. 

The following is taken directly from a report by Robert Catherman, co-founder of MEDRIX:

"Our first interview was with a mother and her 10 year old son. You can see them in the attached photos Mrs LaRelle reviewed the usual questions with the mom: 1) what do you know about your son’s diagnosis and proposed surgery?, 2) what is your occupation? (farmer), 3) how much can the family contribute toward the surgery? (have no money to offer), 4) will you promise that your son will stay in school after the surgery? (yes), etc, etc – the standard questions we ask all families before we say “Yes, MEDRIX will support the surgery.”

But this case had an unusual twist that we had been alerted to beforehand by the hospital staff. There was a big problem with the boy’s name. It seems that at the time of the boy’s birth there was a major conflict in the family and the family relationships had been badly damage and have not healed to this day. And at that time the father gave the boy a name reflecting this problem. Mrs LaRelle explored this topic with the mother to learn more. At this point the mother began to cry when she talked about the boy’s given name. Mrs Ha, who was translating for LaRelle, could not translate the Vietnamese name into English in a way that expressed the full meaning – she said the boy’s given name meant something like “conflict/war/hate”. And this was the name the boy was called at school and in his family. It was a embarrassment to the boy and a constant reminder of the broken relationships within the family. The mother was in tears the entire time that she talked about this sad, sad situation.

A lot of chatter when on in English and Vietnamese while we were trying to think about what to do. Finally, the idea was proposed that MEDRIX give the boy a new name. Since MEDRIX is having a big influence on the boy’s future life by sponsoring his heart surgery, why not try to influence the family to change his name from “conflict/war/hate”. What to change his name to??? More chatter – until the answer became clear – from now on, he would be named “Hùng” in Vietnamese which means “Hero” in English.

Mom has now stopped crying and is smiling. LaRelle asks if it is possible to change his name and the mom says “Yes, they can”. And our interview was concluded. “Conflict/war/hate” came into the room for the interview and left the room as Hùng the Hero.

Surgery to fix a malformed heart is relatively easy – Hùng’s surgery is scheduled for later this week. Healing a broken heart is not so easy – but it must be attempted. We think we helped both situations today."

Hung recovered quickly from his heart surgery, and was released from the hospital less than 2 weeks later! He now has a healthy and very happy life to look forward to, thanks to the generosity of supporters like you. Every person has a story like this, and the surgery they receive can change that story for the better. Please take a look at some of the other people who have benefited from life-saving heart surgery this year. We sincerely thank you for your support. 

Links:

• MEDRIX Heart Surgeries