Nong Ked is a small, long-legged, skinny girl like a malnourished child. Her mother, Nong Plian, said that she works as a general laborer, doing whatever is hired. Nong Ked is the youngest daughter. She has 4 children in total. Nong Ked’s 3 older sisters, when they got jobs in Bangkok, did not support her and her younger siblings. Not long after giving birth, she broke up with her husband because he was addicted to alcohol and drugs. They argued and hurt her every day until she could not stand it anymore. Even though she broke up with Nong Ked’s father, her mother still had to take care of her grandmother who was very old. Later, her mother heard that her father had quit drinking and drugs and became a monk. Nong Ked was born at Kamphaeng Phet Hospital. After giving birth, the doctor found that she had heart disease. Her mother said that when the doctor told her that her daughter had heart disease, she was shocked. She did not think that it would happen to her daughter because the 3 children she gave birth to were all normal and no one in her family had heart disease. However, the doctor said that she had been born with a congenital heart disease and needed surgery to cure it. Her daily income sometimes did not even reach 50 baht. Where would she get the money to pay for the surgery? The doctor said that if she used her gold card, she would not have to pay. Nong Ked was a slow-growing child, was small, often caught colds, and got tired easily. She could only play for a little while before getting tired and had to stop. The doctor sent Nong Lukket to receive treatment at the Children’s Hospital and had surgery at Rajavithi Hospital in 2004.

Her mother said that Nong Lukket’s dream was to have a wallet because when she went to school, she would ask her mother for 5 baht, but her mother did not have any to give her. After the surgery, Nong Lukket ate a lot of food, which made her weight gain 3 kilograms, which made her mother very happy. After leaving the hospital, the doctor made an appointment for Nong Lukket to come for a checkup. Her mother said that she would not be able to come because she did not have the transportation fee. The foundation for supporting children’s heart surgery, led by Dr. Phiraphan Mongkhonphong, paid for the round trip transportation so that the child could come for the checkup as scheduled. At the same time, the nurse who had taken care of Nong Lukket during the surgery gave Nong Lukket a bright pink wallet. The nurse said that when she saw Nong Lukket’s happy smile, she felt that some things that we sometimes think are not worth much could be valuable to someone.