Giving children a life worth living

Giving children a life worth living BY OPALYN MOK Year Four pupil H'ng Eng Chai used to be confined to his house and was not allowed to take part in any sport or run around like other children. This was because Eng Chai had a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) in his heart, and his parents worried that he might over-exert himself. Now, thanks to Operation HeartBeat, the 10-year-old will soon be able to play badminton with his friends like any healthy child. "My mother did not want me to strain myself, but I secretly took part in various activities at school," Eng Chai said, adding that he sometimes sneaked off to played badminton with his friends. "I am glad that now, as the doctors have `repaired' my heart, I'll be able to go out and play without having to sneak out." Eng Chai is recuperating after having corrective surgery at the Penang Adventist Hospital on Sept 30. His parents, general worker H'ng Ee Teik, 40, and housewife Wong Poh Suan, 38, were relieved after the long wait for their youngest child to have surgery. "If not for Operation HeartBeat, we would still be waiting for the Penang Hospital to arrange for our son to be operated," H'ng said, adding that they could not afford to send their son to a private hospital. Operation HeartBeat is a charity project jointly organised in conjunction with World Heart Day by the Penang Adventist Hospital's Heart Patients Fund and Wong Keng Fei Fund, named after a boy who died from a defective heart 10 years ago. Under the project, RM150,000 would be provided for 10 Malaysian children to receive corrective heart surgery. However, only six children qualified to benefit from it. H'ng is the project's second recipient. The first was one-yearold Saw Jin Wen from Alor Star, Kedah, who underwent surgery on Sept 21.