Pregnancy on the fragile borders of life
More than a year ago, Ms. N.T.T.H (27 years old, Hai Phong) had the biggest incident of her life when she accidentally discovered end-stage chronic kidney failure at the time of pregnancy, more than a month ago. The happiness of a mother just in time to grow up has had to face a harsh choice: suspending pregnancy to preserve her health, or accepting the danger of keeping the baby in labor.
Despite medical recommendations and family concerns, Ms. H still decided to keep the child.
Born into a family without a father early, Ms. H grew up thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of her mother - Mrs. T.T.B. During her pregnancy, Ms. H was at risk of losing her child many times: There were times when her uterus failed and she had to hold the fetus, sometimes the fetus was suspected to be abnormal and had to chew water for examination. Fortunately, the baby was still developing normally.
At the 36th week of pregnancy, Ms. H was scheduled for emergency surgery. The 1.7kg baby girl who cried was born and transferred to the newborn ward for special care.
The journey to regain life after giving birth
After giving birth, when many mothers were rested and enjoyed the happiness of being mothers, Ms. H continued her own life-and-death battle. For 10 months, she had dialysis three times a week. Unable to breastfeed, not being able to hold the baby completely becomes the biggest nightmare for young mothers.
As her health became increasingly exhausted, doctors determined that kidney transplantation was the only way to help Ms. H continue to live a healthy life and raise her children well. During the kidney transplant consultation at the 108 Central Military Hospital, Ms. T.T.B did not hesitate for a second when voluntarily donating her daughter's kidneys.
According to Major, BSCKI Tran Hong Xinh, 108: kidney and blood transplantation bring many important advantages such as high comparedity, low risk of transplantation, and fast recovery time. In particular, family cohesion is an important psychological factor, helping patients gain more confidence and motivation during long-term treatment" - the doctor emphasized.
Test results showed that the mother and child were fully qualified to undergo a kidney transplant with a blood clot. In August 2025, the transplant was successfully performed at the 108 Central Military Hospital. After surgery, the health of both the donor and the recipient was stable. The mother who donated her kidneys was discharged after a week, while Ms. H recovered quickly, could eat, walk and live almost normally.
4 months after the transplant, the stressful check-ups gradually gave way to a relieved smile. Ms. H is now healthy, her face is rosy, and she is walking steadily. The girl is 13 months old, attractive and petrified. For the first time in more than a year, she was able to hold her child with her healthy hands.
According to Colonel, Dr. Ngo Quan Vu - Head of the Department of Nephrology and Blood Loss, the first kidney transplant at 108 Central Military Hospital was performed in 2016. To date, the hospital has performed nearly 600 kidney transplants, an average of 120140 cases per year, mainly from life-saving people. Kidney transplantation is considered an effective, high-quality and cost-effective treatment compared to dialysis or abdominal filtration for patients with end-stage chronic kidney failure.
