Vietnamese baby receives crucial heart operation at St. Francis
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By NELLIE KELLY World Staff Writer
12/13/2001
Little Ha's Heart
Mai Bui (left) holds her baby Ha Huynh Ngan,
who recently underwent heart surgery at
KELLY KERR /
The cries in the hallway bring a smile to Mai Bui's face.
When her 1-year-old daughter used to cry, she'd pass out because her body
didn't get enough oxygen.
"She was always crying and blue," Bui said through an interpreter.
Crying is no longer a life-threatening event since the Vietnamese child
received free heart surgery and post-operative care at
Operations for overseas children -- usually a routine for American doctors --
have been difficult to coordinate since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Although the need is great in foreign countries, little Ha Huynh Ngan's operation was the first at the hospital since
September.
"The family just would not stop trying," said Dr. Richard Ranne, the surgeon who performed the operation.
When Ha was a month old, her family learned she suffered from
tetralogy of Fallot.
The four-fold heart deformity causes a hole between the heart's two bottom
chambers, a narrowing of the vessel that takes blood to the lungs, a malpositioned aorta and a thickening of the muscle of the
right ventricle, children's cardiac nurse Debi Lammert said.
Repairing the problem requires using a fabric patch and the heart's sack in a
five-hour surgical procedure. No hospital in
"Back in my country, you have to have money before they're willing to
treat you decently," Bui said.
The baby's grandmother, Sau Vo
Thi, who works in the St. Francis laundry, visited
her family in
As soon as she returned to
"She couldn't walk because she was so weak," the grandmother said.
Back at St. Francis,
she asked a respiratory therapist for help. He mentioned the situation to An
Nguyen, a respiratory therapist from
He began translating documents between the family and hospital and helped the
family get permission to come to the
Catholic Charities agreed to sponsor them, and visas were approved more easily
than Nguyen expected, he said.
Last week, Ha underwent surgery to fix her heart, which is about the size of a
small lime, Ranne said.
The operation was a success, and she shouldn't need any more surgeries, Ranne said.
"When there's a good chance we won't see them again, we try to do
everything we can to find a permanent solution," Ranne
said.
Still, the child is on a tight schedule to recuperate by February, when the
mother's and child's visas expire. The baby's father and older brother were
required to stay in
There's one more problem the family and Nguyen are trying to work out: The
baby's 7-year-old brother has a growth hormone problem that causes him to be
the size of a 3-year-old. The family wonders if both children's ailments are
related to chemicals used during the Vietnam War.
The family hopes the boy, too, can come to the
Their hometown, Qui Nhon, is 500 miles north of
"The country is still very poor and underdeveloped," he said.
"And the government isn't very keen on improving the living conditions
after 20 years of peace. It's still the same after 20 years."
Bui won't speculate about her daughter's future. Right now, she concentrates on
getting her baby healthy.
"I'm happy," she said in her own words.