Rina De Silva
New Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR: She misses home-cooked food but the DeepaRaya open house spread at the National Heart Institute (IJN) was too tempting to resist.

Heart transplant girl Tee Hui Yi, 14, enjoyed satay, briyani rice and rendang. The only thing missing was her favourite food - Kentucky Fried Chicken.

“Now I can eat anything I want, but I haven’t had any Kentucky Fried Chicken yet,” she giggled.

Her plate was refilled quite regularly by IJN chief executive officer Mohd Radzif Mohd Yunus and her mother Dina Bato Sambua.

The staff at IJN were happy to see her tucking in.
Tee has not been in the mood to eat much since she received a new heart last month.

Looking radiant in a red baju kurung with her hair plaited in the latest style, Tee drew attention the moment she stepped into the room. Guests recognised the famous patient and came forward to greet the teenager, who was her usual bubbly self.

She posed happily for photographers, showing the peace sign.

It has been more than a month since Tee had her heart transplant at IJN, where she has been a patient since September last year.

She was transferred out of the intensive care unit on Nov 1.

“I’m very happy, only my legs still hurt when I walk,” she said.

Her physiotherapy regimen includes a lot of walking as part of the recuperation process.

Her one wish though is to go home and be with her family in Batu Pahat. But it may be a while yet as IJN cannot fix a date for her discharge.

“It’s hard to tell. She was just transferred out of the ICU,” said Radzif.

But she is pleased that she is no longer bound to the mechanical heart that kept her alive for more than a year as she waited for a donor heart. She can now sit and eat comfortably, and bathe like a regular person.

Tee was diagnosed with end-stage heart failure, after a viral infection, when she was two years’ old.

She became a regular patient at Batu Pahat Hospital and IJN.

Tee was placed on the heart transplant list in May last year. She has not attended school for three years because of her heart condition.