Nong Lai-U is the second child of father To and mother Asawae. The eldest is 15 years old. Both are Mon people who came to work in a rubber plantation in Trat Province 7 years ago.

Nong Lai-U was born at Trat Hospital. At birth, she was normal and showed no signs of heart disease. When she was 6 months old, she took her child back to Burma. Her grandmother noticed that she was breathing harder than other children, so she took her to Yangon Hospital for a checkup. The doctor did an echo and said she had heart disease. After that, she got sick often, had colds, and was underweight. When she returned to Thailand, an acquaintance recommended that she go to Chulalongkorn Hospital for a checkup. She has been receiving treatment ever since. The doctor scheduled her for checkups once a month. Each time she went to the doctor, she had to pay for it herself because she did not have any medical coverage. Until she was 11 months old, the doctor recommended surgery.

Nong Lai-U underwent surgery at Kasemrad Prachachuen Hospital on January 10, 2013, with the help of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Foundation. Because Nong Lai-U had pulmonary hypertension, he had to be intubated for several days, which meant he had to use expensive, off-label drugs. His mother said that if the foundation hadn’t helped her, she wouldn’t know where she would get the money to treat her child. Nong Lai-U stayed in the hospital for 1 month until he was able to return home on February 8, 2013.