Nong Yimmak is a Mon from Burma. She has 4 siblings. Nong Yimmak is the third. Her father is Master Mon and her mother is Mrs. Tan. They are farmers. Nong Yimmak said that when she was 12 years old, she had symptoms of fatigue, swelling, and green fingernails and toenails. Her mother took her to see a doctor. The doctor said that she had a heart defect and needed surgery, which would cost around 500,000 baht. However, her mother did not have the money. The doctor gave her medicine and made an appointment for a checkup. At that time, Nong Yimmak visited her father, who was working at a seafood export factory in Samut Sakhon Province, Thailand. She started to feel fatigued and short of breath, so her father took her to a clinic and got her medicine. Her father wanted her to get treatment for her heart disease in Thailand, so he let her apply to work at his factory. However, Nong Yimmak was not yet 15 years old, so she could not work in Thailand. Nong Yimmak met a friend who was studying in Thailand. Her friend took her to stay with Teacher Moo so that she could study. Now, my younger sibling is in Grade 3 at Wat Sri Sutharam School in Samut Sakhon Province. My younger sibling said that at first, she had a hard time studying in Thailand because she couldn’t understand Thai. However, she has improved in her studies and has always been number 1 in exams.

One day, she went to school and felt so tired that she fainted. Teacher Moo took her to Samut Sakhon Hospital for treatment. The doctor did an echo and said that she had a heart defect. He said that surgery was not needed yet, gave her medicine, and scheduled a follow-up every month. The teacher asks the hospital for help with the expenses each time so that she doesn’t have to pay.

Teacher Moo contacted the Labor Quality Promotion Network (LPN) Foundation, which helps take care of welfare for foreign workers working in industrial estates in Thailand. The LPN Foundation heard about the children’s heart surgery project from the newspaper, so they contacted the foundation to support the children’s heart surgery. The foundation then contacted her to have an echo at Rajavithi Hospital. And had a heart surgery on September 16, 2009 at Kasemrad Prachachuen Hospital. After the surgery, Nong’s condition improved a lot. When talking, she felt less tired. Nong Yim said that she would like to thank the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Foundation for helping pay for the surgery because she and her family alone would not have been able to find this much money to pay for the surgery. We would like to thank the foundation for giving Nong Yim a new life.