In a rented room at 38A Street No. 7, Linh Xuan Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Kim Lanh (born in 1989) almost no longer have a peaceful day since their son got sick.
Before giving birth to baby Truong Ngoc Thinh (born in 2021), Ms. Lanh was a worker at Linh Trung 1 Export Processing Zone. Ms. Lanh's husband - Mr. Truong Ngoc Tien (born in 1990), also used to work at a leather shoe company. The job is hard but brings a stable income for the family.
Everything changed since baby Thinh developed the disease. According to Ms. Lanh, baby Thinh was born healthy, until about 5 months old, he suddenly had convulsions, turned purple and then fainted. Ms. Lanh and her husband took their child to Children's Hospital 2 for emergency treatment. After performing tests and MRI, doctors determined that the baby had epilepsy, gene abnormalities, ventricular dilation (brain atrophy), slow development and severe pneumonia. Since then, Thinh's hospital visits have continued.
After five years of treatment, Thinh's condition has not only not improved, but recently the family has received more news that his child has kidney water stagnation and sediment in the bladder, with the risk of forming stones. Severe episodes of the disease have caused the baby to be continuously hospitalized. Currently, Thinh is being treated at the Department of Neurology, Children's Hospital 2.
At the age of 5, Thinh was only lying in one place, all activities depended on his mother. The days his child was in the hospital were also days when Ms. Lanh's family struggled and was exhausted. Ms. Lanh had to be by his child's side, while Mr. Tien took advantage of driving to earn money and taking care of his eldest child, baby Truong Ngoc Bao (born in 2015).
Since my child got sick, I have had to be by her side to take care of her. The days when my child had convulsions and turned purple, my husband and I could only hug my child and run to the hospital. Seeing my child lying in one place for many years, I feel very sorry for my child but I don't know what to do," Ms. Lanh choked up.
Ms. Lanh shared that since her child got sick, Ms. Lanh was forced to quit her job to take care of him; Mr. Tien also could not continue his work at the company, he switched to running a technology motorbike taxi.
My husband drives regularly, so each month he only earns 7-8 million VND, when the child is hospitalized, he has to take a break to support taking care of the child with me and take care of the older child, so his income is also precarious. I feel sorry for my husband, sorry for the children, but now I can't go to work...", Ms. Lanh shared.
Previously, when Thinh had just developed the disease, Ms. Lanh and her husband still had a sum of savings to save for treatment for their child. But the illness lasted for a long time, and consecutive hospitalizations quickly depleted that amount of money. In particular, baby Thinh had to be treated with many drugs outside the scope of insurance, for a family with only one unstable income source, the money to buy medicine for their child became a burden that was not easy to manage...
What makes Ms. Lanh most heartbroken is that her childhood years just passed in the hospital like that. Instead of playing and going to school like children of the same age, Thinh spent most of the time lying in the hospital bed. For the past five years, Ms. Lanh and her husband have never given up hope, even though life has been exhausted, they still try to take their child for treatment whenever the disease becomes severe.
Ms. Lanh's family situation is in great need of sharing from philanthropists and readers near and far. The support at this time will help the family have more conditions to maintain treatment for baby Thinh, and at the same time add strength for the poor father and mother to continue to accompany their child on the journey of fighting illness.
All help for life situation LD26203, please send to Tam Long Vang Charity Social Fund - 51 Hang Bo, Hoan Kiem Ward, Hanoi. Account number (STK) 113000000758 at VietinBank Hoan Kiem Branch, Hanoi; Account number: 0021000303088 - at Vietcombank Hanoi Branch; Account number: 12410001122556 - at BIDV Hoan Kiem Branch.
