Just recovering from difficult years to rebuild her house and raise her children to adulthood, Ms. Do Thi Hien - a female environmental worker - suddenly suffered a serious labor accident. The injury caused her to be completely paralyzed, lose her ability to work, and her family fell into poverty.
Tragedy struck the female worker's family
In July 2026, we came to house number 8, alley 94, Thuong Tiet village, My Duc commune, Hanoi city of Ms. Do Thi Hien (56 years old) - a sanitation worker of My Duc Branch - Hanoi Urban Environment Co., Ltd. (URENCO). She is paralyzed all over her body, so all personal activities from eating through a tube to daily hygiene completely depend on her relatives.
Her husband died early 8 years ago, Ms. Hien alone shouldered the family, saving every penny to raise 4 children to adulthood. It was thought that when the children grew up, life would gradually stabilize, but unexpected events struck.
On November 30, 2025, while performing the task of collecting garbage on the road in Thuong Tiet village, Ms. Hien unfortunately had a labor accident and fell headfirst onto the road. The accident caused her to suffer severe traumatic brain injury, with a disability rate of up to 85%.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thoa (86 years old) - Ms. Hien's biological mother - choked up and recounted: "Before, whatever money I earned, my children saved up to raise their children to study and rebuild the house. Accidents happened, for 8 months now, all the money has been spent on treatment. My child now has to eat through a tube, three meals of porridge a day. I am old and weak, I only visit my children, but I can't help much.
After the accident, Ms. Hien was actively treated for more than 30 days at Military Hospital 103 and luckily survived. However, the sequelae of traumatic brain injury caused her to completely lose her ability to work.
From a healthy woman, a support for the whole family, Ms. Hien now has to lie in one place, dragging her life into difficulty.
To have someone to take care of her mother 24/24 hours, Le Ly (22 years old) - Ms. Hien's youngest daughter - had to quit her job and stay by the hospital bed. According to Ly, the cost of medicine, nutrition and care for her mother is about 15 million VND per month, not to mention the re-examination and treatment costs that can be up to tens of millions of VND.
Meanwhile, the family's current income only relies on about 3 million VND sent back by two older sisters who are working far away. Ly herself has weak health, cannot do heavy work, and has to spend all her time taking care of her mother, causing the family's economy to become increasingly exhausted.
I really hope to receive help from everyone so that the two of us can overcome this difficult period. I hope that one day my mother will be more awake and be able to recognize her family members," Ly said choked up.
Hoping for community cooperation
Talking to a reporter of Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hung - Deputy Director of the Branch, Chairman of the Trade Union of My Duc Branch (URENCO) - said that the unit has implemented many activities to support Ms. Hien's family, including paying insurance benefits, mobilizing officials and employees to donate with a total amount of hundreds of millions of VND.
However, according to Mr. Hung, long-term treatment with high costs is becoming a burden for Ms. Hien's family. "The cost of treatment for a long time is really a great pressure. The unit also hopes to continue to receive the attention and support of organizations and individuals so that Ms. Hien's family has more conditions to overcome difficulties," Mr. Hung shared.
Mr. Hoang Quang Kha - Village Head, Head of the Front Work Committee of Thuong Tiet village - confirmed that Ms. Hien's family is in particularly difficult circumstances in the locality.
According to Mr. Kha, although the family has received support from social security policies and social mobilization sources, the current situation is still very difficult.
Ms. Hien is the main breadwinner in the family but now completely lost her ability to work. The locality hopes that agencies, unions, and philanthropists will continue to join hands to support Ms. Hien to have more funds for treatment, helping the family overcome this difficult period," Mr. Kha said.
