2 girls and a baby need help.

KUALA LUMPUR: At 6.5kg, 20-month-old Lie Kai Jun's weight is only half among the babies of his age. His speech development is also slow and he can only say "papa" and "mama".

He is frail, catches infections easily and can only stand for a short while with help. Kai Jun was born with congenital heart disease.

He suffers from pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect and the blood vessels to his lungs are not connected properly.

"Although he eats normally, he cannot put on weight and the doctor said he needs to have a Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunt surgery to save his life and prepare him for corrective surgery," said his father, Lie Wei Qiang, 22. A BT shunt is a closed-heart surgical procedure performed on blood vessels outside the heart.

The toddler had undergone his first operation when he was 2 weeks old, which cost RM37,000. "We used up our savings and insurance money and we still owe the Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre (GIMC) RM7,000. "Now, we need another RM25,000 for Kai Jun's second operation which must be carried out as soon as possible," said Lie.

He earns RM2,115 a month as a storekeeper and has to support his mother and his wife, Lee Shio Hua, 20. Meanwhile, Sandra Yeong Chin Siew, 12, and Divya Raja Gopal, 11, both need RM45,000 each for surgeries to insert an artificial valve to reduce the backflow of blood from the lungs to the right ventricle of their heart. The two suffered from holes in the heart and their blood flow to the lungs were blocked. They had undergone operations earlier to repair the defects and restore blood flow. GIMC consultant paediatrician and paediatric cardiologist Dr Lim Miin Kang said the backflow of blood is a common problem among children who had operations to close the holes in their heart. "Now is the time to do the surgeries as after 10 to 15 years, the valves can deteriorate because of calcification, which leads to leakage. If the condition is not corrected, it might eventually impair the right heart functions and cause heart failure," he said. Sandra's father, Yeong Ho So, 51, used to work in the construction industry but has been jobless for the last eight months. Her mother, Lee Chong Eng, 49, is a housewife. They have two other school-going kids, while their eldest daughter has just started working, drawing RM800 a month. Divya's father, Raja Gopal, 41, is a driver earning RM1,950 monthly and is supporting four children and his wife, Sathiyavathi, 41. He met with an accident in August and had not been working for three months. His employer told him that he would no longer have overtime work as another driver had been hired during his medical leave. Those who wish to help them can send cheques, made payable to the NSTP Charity Fund, with the children's names written on the back to the Charity Unit, Finance Department, The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, Balai Berita, No. 31, Jalan Riong, 59100 Kuala Lumpur.

http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/28tys/Article#ixzz15TRd2RP6