From heart to heart

Rebirth of life

In the new spring, on the porch of her small house, the “old” mother PTS (50 years old, in Nghia Dan district) holds her “little princess” PKN (18 months old) to bask in the sun and play. In the mother’s laughter, the child’s cries resound with so much happiness.

Ms. PTS's life was a mixture of joy and sadness, endless despair and then overflowing happiness. Ms. S. told about the storms of her old age: The couple loved each other very much, but God was not kind to them, forcing them to endure infertility. The desire to hear the laughter of their children had not yet come true when Ms. S.'s husband passed away. Before he died, he was still worried, telling his wife to "find a child to have joy in old age"... After the mourning period, remembering her husband's words, she traveled to a central hospital to "find a child" using the IVF method.

Baby PKN was born, grew up healthy, and became a great happiness for Ms. PTS. She poured all her love and hope as a mother and father into taking care of the baby. However, the happiness was short-lived. In the 4th month, baby N. showed signs of turning purple when crying and was slow to gain weight. When taking the baby for vaccination, the doctor discovered that the baby's heart rate was abnormal... Hearing the bad news, Ms. S. was extremely worried.

In November 2023, Ms. PTS brought her 6-month-old daughter to the hospital for examination and treatment.Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital. Here, the doctors discovered that the baby had a congenital heart defect, heart failure, and needed surgery. When she learned that the cost of heart surgery would be tens of millions of dong (after deducting the costs covered by health insurance), Ms. S. was completely desperate. “My husband and I are farmers. We used to save all our money for IVF. Now we don’t know where to get it to save our child.”

In that dire situation, fortunately, there were "open hands" to save the life of her innocent child. Doctor Le Trong Thong - Deputy Head of the Department of General Surgery, Head of the Heart Surgery Team of Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital said: "The hospital has established a Heart Surgery Support Fund for children in difficult circumstances. This fund is sponsored by organizations and philanthropists". Ms. PTS was guided by the Social Work and Customer Care Department of Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital to prepare a profile and request funding for surgery. With the urgent connection of the hospital, the profile was quickly approved.

“PKN had surgery to repair the ventricular septal defect. After the surgery, her health recovered and progressed well. On the 28th day, she was discharged from the hospital and returned home. Her surgery was fully covered by health insurance and sponsors. One year after the surgery, she is developing well, just like any other normal child. I don’t know what else to say, but thank you to the hospital and the sponsors for giving me and my child a new life,” said PTS.

Not only PKN, many children in difficult circumstances have received surgery and treatment for congenital heart disease "free of charge" at Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital. The case of baby NDL (21 months old, in Yen Thanh district) is one of them. Baby NDL is the 4th child in Ms. NTH's family. Baby NDL was discovered to have abnormalities in the 7th month of pregnancy, such as severe coarctation of the aorta (congenital heart disease), esophageal atresia, and duodenal obstruction. With these abnormalities, the risk of death is always present.

Knowing that Ms. NTH's family was in very difficult circumstances (the wife was a farmer, the husband was a construction worker), Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital supported, guided and helped the couple get the funds for surgery for their child. After 20 days of birth, on March 13, 2024, baby NDL had surgery and treatment for major malformations. The medical ethics of the doctors and the support of benefactors helped baby NDL have enough strength to overcome 3 miraculous major surgeries. Ms. NTH choked up: "My child's life was saved thanks to the doctors and benefactors."

“Matchmaker” of joy

Doctor Le Trong Thong said: According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, in Vietnam, out of every 1,000 children born, 8-10 will havecongenital heart disease. Thus, in Nghe An, each year there will be about 500 children with congenital heart disease. Children with congenital heart disease, if not detected and treated early, can cause serious health effects later, even risk of death.

It is worth mentioning that most children with congenital heart disease are from poor economic circumstances, living in remote areas, ethnic minority areas. Living conditions and congenital heart disease are related to each other. Congenital heart disease that children suffer from is often due to the fact that in the first 3 months of pregnancy, pregnant women do not receive good maternity care such as nutrition, vaccinations, etc. Meanwhile, a surgery to treat congenital heart disease costs from 80-300 million VND. This is a huge amount of money, even all the assets of a normal family.

With the desire to bring healthy hearts and a brighter future to children with congenital heart disease in difficult circumstances, since 2009, Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital has implemented a heart intervention and surgery program. At the same time, the hospital has also provided financial support to patients' families with its own resources. However, the number of children needing intervention is very large... Since 2020, through the Provincial Children's Support Fund, Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital has actively connected with philanthropists, agencies, and organizations to support children and their families.

It is this companionship that Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital can help many children with congenital heart disease in difficult and unfortunate circumstances to be treated and healthy. Dr. Tang Xuan Hai - Director of Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital said: “From 2021 to now, with the sponsorship of the organizations "Heart for you", "Heartbeat of Vietnam", "Fund for Vietnamese stature", "Returning childhood" and other benefactors... 135 children have received free heart surgery at Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital. The total funding from organizations and benefactors is 1,746 billion VND".

In order for children with congenital heart disease in the province to receive surgery, treatment and get healthy again, the role of medical units such as Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital or Nghe An Children's Support Fund is very important. Medical units and the Fund not only seek out children in difficult circumstances to support, but also play the role of "matchmaker" to build humanitarian bridges to hospitals and benefactors.

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Every year, the Fund cooperates with central and provincial hospitals with cardiology departments to conduct 2-3 heart disease screenings for children in the community and schools. After the examination results are available, the Fund and the hospital will guide the family to prepare a profile and send the profile to benefactors to call for support for surgery for the children. Based on the family's choice, the Fund also provides additional advice to help the family choose hospitals with appropriate specialties for safe and successful surgery. From 2020 to now, with the Fund's connection, 248 children with congenital heart disease in Nghe An have been successfully operated on and treated. The total amount of money that organizations and benefactors have supported is nearly 17.4 billion VND.

Mr. Phan Sy Hien - Deputy Director of Nghe An Provincial Children's Support Fund