" Internet Acts as Lifeline to L.A. for Sick Chinese Boy;
Health: A father's plea for help after his son was diagnosed with heart disease led to a stay in Simi Valley as the family seeks medical help at UCLA.; "

" Little Shao-han Deng has flown thousands of miles to get a second chance in life, but geographic distance is nothing compared to the vast digital landscape his story has traveled.
The 3-year-old boy from a remote province in northern China suffers from a rare congenital heart disease. Doctors in his country have given him no chance of survival. But now, thanks to his parents' persistence, the power of the Internet and the kindness of strangers it generated, Shao-han has a shot at a heart surgery that may save him. Through Web sites and e-mail, people from Australia to Sweden to Simi Valley have provided more emotional support, money and medical referrals than the boy's family could have imagined. "The Internet put everything together in this case," said Dr. Juan Alejos, a pediatric cardiologist at UCLA Medical Center who is overseeing Shao-han's case. "
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" Shao-han's heart has only one ventricle instead of two, meaning it must pump harder than a normal heart. The added pressure creates hypertension in the arteries, which is fatal in the long run. The Chinese doctors told Han Dan that her only child could die any minute and said it was a miracle he had lived that long, the father said.
Deng immediately logged onto the Internet, a tool he lacked in his home country, to research medical and charitable groups. He sent more than 500 e-mails using the heading "Seeking help to save my son." He wrote to the World Health Organization, International Red Cross and so many others that he lost track.
"I wanted to do anything, even with the least possibility to help my son," he said.

Deng's cries for help in the digital dark brought a response from a Swedish human rights organization that offered to put up a home page for Shao-han................ "

Little Shao-han Deng has flown thousands of miles to Los Angeles to get a second chance in life, but geographic distance is nothing compared to the vast digital landscape his story has traveled.

Shao-Shao, the ailing 3-year-old Chinese boy whose father's desperate call for help on the Internet has generated a worldwide outpouring of support, has taken his first hopeful step into recovery.

Shao-han Deng, the 3-year-old boy who came from a remote province of China for an operation to save his life, was released from UCLA Children's Hospital Wednesday after the first of what could be several surgeries to repair his damaged heart.

Shao-han Deng, the 3-year-old boy who came from a remote province of China for an operation to save his life, was released from UCLA's Children's Hospital on Wednesday after successfully pulling through the first of what could be several surgeries to repair his damaged heart.