Ms. Som, a Burmese, 27 years old, her father is Ucha-ao, her mother is Dorut, lives in Pa-an village, Khya sub-district, Burma. She has 3 siblings. Som is the middle child. Her older sister and older brother have already died of heart disease. Her family is poor and her income comes from general labor. Som studied until Mathayom 3, but had no money to continue her studies, so she dropped out. Her house was burned down and she had no place to live, so she looked for work in Thailand. She has been living in Thailand for 8 years. At first, she came to work as a housekeeper with a monthly income of 4,000 baht.

Som currently has a family but no children. Her boyfriend is a Burmese who she met at a construction site. Som works and earns 160 baht per day. She found out that she had heart disease during a physical examination to renew her alien card. An X-ray showed abnormalities and the doctor recommended further examination.

3 months ago, she had symptoms of shortness of breath and chest pain, so she went to Bangpakok Hospital 8. The doctor said that she had heart disease and told her to get treatment anywhere convenient because Ms. Som did not have any medical benefits. If she was treated at a private hospital, the cost would be high. He recommended that she be treated at a government hospital, so she went to Samut Prakan Hospital for treatment. The doctor prescribed her medication for 3 months but it didn’t get any better, so he sent her to Rajavithi Hospital for further treatment. After an echo, the doctor said that she had a leaky atrial septum. The only treatment was surgery. The Children’s Heart Surgery Foundation came to help her and she had a heart surgery at Kasemrad Prachachuen Hospital on October 12, 2010. Five days after the surgery, Som was very strong and the doctor allowed her to go home.