Mun Hong's an active, mischievous little boy

2009/11/09

By Teresa Yong

KUALA LUMPUR: Three hours after 5-year-old Young Mun Hong came into this world, he needed life-saving heart surgery.

His mother, Chee Mei Lee, who already had two children, said: "I was looking forward to nursing my baby at home and showing my two older boys their new baby brother."

She had no inkling Mun Hong would be a blue baby because her pregnancy had been perfectly normal. And when he was born on Feb 5, 2005 at 12.30pm at a private medical clinic, he weighed a normal 2.5kg.

But, unlike most newborns, his complexion was not a healthy pink. His skin had a bluish tinge.

By 3.30pm, his father, Young Fook Lai, had accompanied him to Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre in Ampang.

By 8.30pm, he was being operated on to correct his condition -- pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum, a condition where the blood vessel to the lungs was completely disconnected from the right heart chamber.

That first five-hour operation cost RM36,000.

Six months later, he needed treatment that cost another RM12,000.

"We did not seek public donations at that time as we were able to raise the money, " said Fook Lai.

But Mun Hong was soon to need another operation -- a cardiac catherisation and placement of a Glenn Shunt to directly connect one of the blood vessels returning blood from the head to the lungs.

"This time, the cost was RM35,000 and there was no way we could come up with that kind of money.

"We had exhausted all our savings and we could not burden our families further," said Fook Wai, a tile layer who earns RM1,500 a month.

Mun Hong's doctor told him about the New Straits Times Press general fund and their appeal for help was published in the New Straits Times and The Malay Mail in November 2005.

Shangri-La Hotel selected Mun Hong as its recipient for its Wishing Well project in 2006 and paid the entire cost of his surgery.

Today, Mun Hong is smart and active. He loves playing computer games and with Power Ranger toys or cars.

"He has a sweet tooth, loves sweets and ice cream. He does not like rice but enjoys his milk four times a day.

"When we told him he should be eating more rice as he'll be going to kindergarten next year, he cheekily replied that he could grow strong on milk, too," smiled his mother.

"He picks things up very quickly -- he only watched his eldest brother, Mun Jun, switch on the computer at their cousins' place once and he could do it," Fook Wai observed proudly.

"We are really grateful to NSTP and Shangri-La Hotel for helping us.

"Without your kind assistance, our boy would not today be running around and up to mischief," said both parents.

If you wish to help a child in need, please send a cheque, made payable to The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, to: The Cashier, Finance Department/Charity Unit, The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, Balai Berita, 31 Jalan Riong, 59100 Kuala Lumpur.