Countywide : Hopes for Ill Boy Depend on Heart-Lung Machine

The family of a 9-year-old Seattle boy with a severe lung disorder is pinning its hopes for his recovery on a sophisticated heart-lung bypass system at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, one of only a few such machines in the nation.

Sopheap Chea was listed in stable condition Tuesday after being flown to Orange County from Seattle in a private jet Monday night.

“The next few days will tell us if he’s going to turn around,” said Dr. Paul Lubinsky, one of the boy’s physicians at CHOC.

Doctors still have not determined the cause of the child’s illness but suspect a viral infection. “This is bad luck,” Lubinsky said. “The very rare case is going to end up like this.”

The boy’s good luck is that the hospital’s cardiopulmonary bypass equipment was available for his treatment. The system, which must be supervised 24 hours a day by medical personnel, can pump, clean and oxygenate the blood so that the lungs have a chance to recover.

“If his lungs heal,” Lubinsky said, “the rest will follow.”

The system, developed in the 1970s for newborns at CHOC and UC Irvine, was adapted about five years ago for pediatric patients and is found at CHOC and only a few other facilities.

The boy’s father, Kea-an Chea, said problems started about a week and a half ago, when the third-grader developed a cough. His condition worsened rapidly, and he was admitted to Children’s Hospital and Medical Center of Seattle after complaining of chest pains and difficulty in breathing.

When the boy’s condition did not improve, doctors in Seattle arranged for him to be transferred to CHOC, where his disease could be attacked more aggressively.

“Now that we’re here, I feel more hope,” said the boy’s father, who is a landscaper in Seattle. “I hope 100% that he will get better. Not in a day or a week, but maybe in a month. It doesn’t matter as long as he gets well.”