Operation Healthy Heart
Beneficiary Profiles

For over 15 years the East Meets West Foundation’s Operation Healthy Heart (OHH) program has provided lifesaving surgery to children with heart defects in Vietnam. Read stories of some of the 2,500 children now leading normal lives with hopeful futures thanks to the program and its supporters.

Tran The Trung

Trung received  lifesaving surgery through Operation Healthy Heart in 2006 and is now a healthy young adult. After his heart defects were diagnosed at age 12, Trung was unable to continue attending school. His family circumstances were already dire: his father suffered from a serious mental illness, leaving  his mother as the sole provider. Her income from a cassava crop and small food business wa not enough to pay for heart surgery. OHH assisted the family with the surgery costs, and Trung, healthy and happy, was able to return to school.

Bui Tuyet Nhi

Bui Tuyet Nhi received her lifesaving OHH surgery in July 2006. Her mother is a single parent who adopted Nhi when she was a newborn baby. They live with Nhi’s grandmother, aunt and uncle. Nhi’s uncle is a hired laborer with an income that is not enough to provide for the whole family. Her mother is a primary school teacher with an income of about $55 per month.  Nhi’s congenital heart disease, Tetralogy of Fallot (T4F), was diagnosed when she was two months old. As a result of her heart operation she is now a healthy, happy little girl.

Tran Thi Cam

Tran Thi Cam is one child whose life has been saved as a result of the OHH program. Cam received a heart operation on December 17, 2004 for her serious heart defect called Mitral Regurgitation. She successfully recovered and is now a bright, smart and beautiful young woman, excited about her future and eager to prepare for the University entrance exam.

Lam Thi Thuy Duong

Lam Thi Thuy Duong’s parents learned of her heart defect when she was 5 years old. Duong never missed a day of school though her condition left her exhausted most of the day. Her family’s income is less than $60 per month. Duong was able to receive her lifesaving surgery on March 21st, 2005. Duong is back in school now and excels in her studies, often receiving merit certificates for her outstanding performance.
 

Phan Van Vu

Phan Van Vu’s family is one of the poorest households in Gio Linh District, a coastal commune in Quang Tri Province. His father passed away from a stroke in 2003 and his mother works as a market seller to support her children and in-laws. Vu’s serious heart condition was discovered in 2004 after an examination at the commune’s medical clinic. He had cardiac surgery on March 28th, 2005. Nine days after the surgery Vu returned home in good health and high spirits.

Ha Ngoc Thanh

Ha Ngoc Thanh smiles from ear to ear when asked how he is doing. He has big dreams for his future – either becoming a teacher or a journalist. But the healthy 19-year-old from Quang Tri Province wasn’t always so certain about his future. That’s because he was born with a complicated congenital heart defect. With Thanh’s father’s whereabouts unknown, his single mother struggled to feed, house and educate her two children. In 2001, Thanh’s case was brought to EMW’s attention, and on December 13, 2002, Thanh left the Ho Chi Minh Hospital with a newly mended heart and outlook on life.

 

For more info
Contact Laura  Collins at laura@eastmeetswest.org or call 1-800-561-3378.