TV Show Follows Samaritan’s Purse as It Works to Save Three Kids with Life-Threatening Heart Defects

Pilot Episode of Children’s Heart Reality Series Focuses on Three Families as They Travel From Remote Mongolian Villages to U.S. for Heart Surgery

BOONE, N.C., April 20, 2009—For families living as nomads in harsh, wind-swept and isolated areas of Mongolia, a minor medical problem can be cause for alarm.  For some, it can even be a death sentence.  But in the inspiring pilot episode of the new reality television series Children's Heart, viewers are given the opportunity to follow three children on a journey from their homes in the outer reaches of Mongolia to the United States to receive an unexpected gift - a chance at life.
 

Focusing on the work of Samaritan's Purse, the pilot episode airing this month on the Daystar, MYfamily and INSP networks offers an inside look at how the organization's Children's Heart Project brought the children, along with parents and interpreters, to the United States for life-saving surgery that was not available in their own country.

"These are children whose families have almost given up hope.  They know it is only a matter of time before they die from their heart condition.  It is our passion to help these children and give them back hope and the opportunity to live," said Cindy Bonsall, director of Children's Heart Project.

Joining the kids on their journey is the granddaughter of Billy Graham, Cissie Graham Lynch.  As part of her internship to complete her college degree, Cissie, whose father Franklin Graham is president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse, asked for the opportunity to work with Children's Heart Project.  It was an experience she'll never forget.

"To take a child and transform their life, to give a child the opportunity to live, is just a remarkable cycle," said Cissie.  "This is a journey of families who are risking everything for the gift of a new life."

For more information, a program schedule and to provide feedback on the Children's Heart pilot visit childrensheart.tv.

Children's Heart Project is a project of Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization headed by Franklin Graham that works in more than 100 countries around the world.  Samaritan's Purse is a non-profit organization that provides immediate, no-red-tape response to the physical and spiritual needs of individuals in crisis situations - especially in locations where few others are working, providing aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution.

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