[Top: (From left) Chin Lee Jiuan with her 3-month-old daughter, Wong Zhi Xin, and Yeo Wen Kee with her 2-month-old daughter, Phang Ker Xing.]
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Phang Ker Xing is only 2 months old, but she faces the prospect of undergoing three operations before she is 5.
Soon after she was born, she was diagnosed with a hole-in-the-heart. She needs a RM20,000 ($8,000) operation to correct the defect.
In the coming weeks, she will need another operation to reduce blood flow to the lungs and to prepare her for a third operation when she is 4.
Her father, Phang Wu Thong, is a promoter and earns RM1,500 a month.
Her mother, Yeo Wen Kee, is not able to work as she has to look after her.
Another child who needs help is Wong Zhi Xin. The 3-month-old infant also has a hole-in-the-heart problem.
If the surgery was not done quickly it could be fatal as she would suffer irreversible lung damage, said paediatrician Dr Lim Miin Kang of Gleneagles Intan Hospital.
Her lorry driver father, Wong Chian Kang, earns RM1,800 a month, and her mother, Chin Lee Jiuan, is a homemaker.
"I can only raise about RM3,000, and we need about RM25,000 for my daughter's operation," said Wong.
If you wish to help Ker Xing or Zhi Xin, send a cheque payable to NSTP Charity Fund, with either or both their names written on the back to The Cashier, Finance Department/Charity Unit, The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, Balai Berita, 31 Jalan Riong, 59100 Kuala Lumpur.
