In 2008, Press-Telegram writer Greg Mellen and I traveled to Cambodia with the Long Beach-based nonprofit Hearts Without Boundaries to chronicle in pictures, video and words the journey of Davik Teng, the nonprofit’s first patient, from her rural home to the U.S. for life-extending open-heart surgery. Since then, several other children have also made similar journeys.

Earlier this year, Mellen and I returned to Cambodia to check on the children and their new lives.

Above is a multimedia piece about Davik Teng three years after she returned to Camobida.

To see pictures of Davik click here

To see pictures of other children helped by Hearts Without Boundaries click here

To see Davik’s journey from 2008, click here

To read the story, click here

CERRITOS, CALIF. — The 55-member Cerritos High School Wind Symphony will play at the London 2012 Summer Olympics… if they can raise the money need to send the band to the U.K.

LONG BEACH, CALIF. USA — Larry Allison, Jr., son of long-time Press-Telegram editor Larry Allison, reacts as his father is memorialized during a service at the Long Beach (Calif.) Convention Center on November 17, 2011. Allison, who had worked at the paper since 1957, died October 30 from complications after battling with pneumonia for two weeks.

Fellow staff photographer Stephen Carr and I photographed the memorial service – click here to see our pictures>>

LONG BEACH, CALIF. USA — Hundreds of Long Beach Memorial and Miller Children’s Hospital registered nurses protest in front of the Long Beach, Calif. hospital on November 16, 2011. Since July, the hospitals and the California Nurses Association representing 1,979 registered nurses have been negotiating a new contract. Their contract expired Sept. 30. See more pictures>>

LONG BEACH, CALIF. USA — First Grader Maile Quinn, center, joins her classmates as they sing the National Anthem during the Mark Twain Elementary School Veteran’s Day Celebration in Long Beach, Calif. on November 10, 2011.
See more pictures>>

IRVINE, CALIF. USA — Long Beach State’s Jazz Strozier (15), right, celebrates their win over U.C. Irvine with teammates Nicole Hubbard (22), Taylor Nelson (5) and Sierra Mack (7), right after the championship game of the
Big West Conference Tournament on November 6, 2011, in Irvine, Calif. Strozier scored the only goal in the game that guaranteed LBSU a spot in the NCAA Tournament bid.
See more photos>>

LONG BEACH, CALIF. USA — Long Beach Councilman Dee Andrews, center, celebrates with Christopher Steinhauser, Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent, left, and Felton Williams, the President of the
Long Beach Board of Education, as a new traffic signal is unveiled at Atlantic Ave. and 15th. Street on November 2, 2011. According to the councilman, over 5000 students attend the two schools, Poly High and Roosevelt elementary, near the intersection.

LAKEWOOD, CALIF. USA — Investigators examine a car in the 20700 block of Studebaker Rd. where an off-duty Santa Ana police officer shot a man he suspected of burglarizing his Lakewood, Calif. neighborhood on October 31, 2011, in Lakewood, Calif. The officer shot the man in the officer’s personal car.