After successful heart surgery, Mongolian boy and his mother set to head home

Just over a week ago, Sunder Erdenekhuyag handed her 7-month-old son, Ochir, to doctors at Children's Hospital in New Orleans. Seconds later, Ochir disappeared behind swinging double doors, as he was wheeled away to receive corrective heart surgery.

As one might expect, Erdenekhuyag shed many tears. But, she says, they were tears of joy.

Finally, after months of looking for help outside her native country of Mongolia, which does not have doctors or facilities to perform such an operation, she had found assistance in the U.S.

Her son was going to live.

HeartGift, a local nonprofit group, set up the surgery for Ochir to correct aventricular septal defect, which could have killed him by age 2 or 3 if it weren't fixed. They also found Kyle and Kendra France of Covington, who volunteered to host the family for two weeks prior to the surgery and two weeks after.


HeartGift pays a flat fee of $15,000 to the hospital, and Dr. Joseph Caspi, director of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at Children's Hospital, performed the procedure at no charge, along with other doctors and nurses. From donations, the group also was able to cover most of the remaining medical and travel expenses.

A few hours after the surgery began on Sept. 29 to repair a hole between Ochir's left and right ventricles, almost every fearful thought Erdenekhuyag suffered through since the day her son was born quickly vanished. Surgery on the little one was a success, and his prognosis is he will live the life of a normal boy. After healing he'll be free from any limitations, but he will have to live with a vertical scar stretching halfway down his chest.

"He is just wonderful; this is amazing," she said. "After the surgery, I finally started relaxing. He is fixed now. No more bad things come to him. I felt that."

He was nearly unconscious for most of three days after the surgery and was on a ventilator. On Monday, doctors removed the breathing tube, and he was allowed to leave the hospital Wednesday.

"When he would wake up with that breathing tube, he was crying. But you couldn't hear him, no noise was coming out. Tears keep coming. That's the only time I was crying (unhappy tears)," Erdenekhuyag said. "Once the breathing tube was out, everything started going fast. One chest tube came out, another one came out, and then the catheter came out, IV out, and a week later he has (no problems). He is able to sit, able to roll over, able to cry, able to eat. ...

"I haven't really had time to be homesick; I came here for a reason. I have met so many great people here – our host family, doctors, nurses, and even the mayor of New Orleans. It has been fantastic."

Erdenekhuyag and her son will head back to her husband and 18-month-old daughter in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, following a 30-hour plane trip from Louis Armstrong International Airport on Wednesday. One last time she will say thank you to those who have been so helpful, and she'll shed tears and hugs with the Frances, who gave a reception for Ochir on Thursday night at their home.

"We have a new family member, and I say that from the bottom of my heart," Kyle France said. "This little guy has been incredible, and his mother is incredible. To think that when your child is born you are told he has a defect that if it doesn't get fixed within a two-year period (he likely would have died), and I think we are immensely blessed to have played a small part in giving him renewed life. ... Of all the things I have done in my life, this has had the biggest impact on me."

This past month has been sort of a whirlwind for her, but as Erdenekhuyag prepares to head home, she reflects on her time here.

"It's kind of sad now because I don't know how to thank all these people," she said. "I can only say thank you, but I keep thinking they will be with me for the rest of my life. I pray always for all of them."

To donate to HeartGift or to inquire about becoming a host family, go to www.heartgift.org.

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