Children's Disease Information

THE LITTLE HEART OF THIÊN AN SEEKS HELP

Living with erratic breaths, the body turns pale and feeble, with a risk of not living beyond 20 years old; the diagnosis of a single ventricle heart disease would break the hearts of any parent. Ironically, this rare congenital disease is often only known after birth, hanging over like a pending verdict from when the child is born.

Two years ago, as Nguyen Hoai Thiên An (Hoc Mon District, HoChiMinh city, VietNam) let out her first cry, her parents, not having the chance to celebrate, anxiously looked at their daughter's pale blue lips and labored breathing. Intuition signaled something was amiss, and the baby's parents took her for a checkup. The doctor diagnosed her with a single ventricle heart disease, requiring early and complex surgical treatment. It would involve two major surgeries and prolonged treatment with potential complications. It sounds like a thunderbeat, but seeing their fragile daughter laughing innocently in front of their home, her parents wiped away their tears and resolved to be "a shield" for her tender heart. However, whatever money her father, a shipper, earned seemed like a drop in the ocean compared to the family's expenses. They faced her mother's unemployment and frail grandparents. They couldn't even think of the hundreds of millions of VND (Vietnamese Dong) the doctor estimated for the surgeries.

 

HOPING FOR THE DAY WHEN OUR CHILD BREATHES NORMALLY

After receiving help from generous individuals, the baby quickly underwent her first heart surgery at the University of Medicine in Ho Chi Minh City. Words cannot express the joy held in the trembling hands of her mother as she fed her a spoonful of rice porridge after hours of intense worry and tension. The family couldn't believe the day when Thiên An started breathing more easily and had a rosy complexion. "It was like a miracle for our family."

However, the single ventricle heart disease will continue to damage the baby's body if she doesn't undergo a second surgery (known in medical terms as the Fontan procedure). Only after this surgery can the baby's heart functions return almost to normal. Complications after this operation can be more severe and numerous than the first, such as prolonged lung fluid leakage or liver and kidney damage. Therefore, the required amount for this surgery is 110 million VND and possibly more, depending on the baby's recovery rate, leading to longer or shorter hospital stays.

Once again, the baby's parents live in prayer and gratitude, seeking a miracle for their child to continue living a new life, to "breathe normally," with the hope of a second surgery.

Thiên An's little heart beats daily with the rhythms of joy within the immense love of her impoverished parents. Even a single contribution means that we have joined hands to bring happiness to her parents, enabling them to see their child grow up healthy. It helps Thiên An's tiny heart no longer cry for help, even though she still innocently babbles..