Vathi Pon, 4 months old, is the second child of MasterKhean Pon and Mrs.Ath Pon. He has a 4-year-old brother. Vathi is a Cambodian refugee living in Thailand under the patronage of the Catholic Relief Services and Refugees Office (COER) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Vathi’s family lives in a rented house at 5 Soi Inthamara 35, Suthisan Road, Din Daeng Subdistrict, Din Daeng District, Bangkok. Both his father and mother do not work because they are refugees waiting to be transferred to a third country.

The mother said that Vathi was born at Rajavithi Hospital in Thailand. At birth, he was fine. When he was 1 month old, he had a high fever and felt tired when he sucked milk. So, she took him to the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health (Children’s Hospital) on December 11, 2009. The doctors at the Children’s Hospital found that he had a large hole in his atria. The doctors said that the only treatment was surgery.

The Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Foundation came to help him get the heart surgery. The waiting time for the surgery was about 3 months. Nong Watee was sent to have the surgery at Kasemrad Prachachuen Hospital on February 9, 2010. After recovering in the hospital for 9 days, he was able to return home. The foundation helped pay for the medicine and medical equipment for the surgery, which was beyond what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was responsible for.

His parents were very happy that Nong Watee had the surgery to treat his congenital heart defect because soon his family would be sent to the United States along with many other Cambodians. Nong Watee would be able to start a new life in a new country with his whole family.