One afternoon, we went to a small house on a plot of land of nearly 500 square meters owned by Ms. Le Kim Dieu (51 years old, Hamlet 1, Quoi An Commune). Because her family's circumstances were already difficult, she used to only stick to the lottery ticket selling job to take care of her daily life.
Ms. Dieu said that many years ago, she often had stomach aches, back pain, and fatigue, but only bought painkillers to take and continued to sell lottery tickets, thinking that because she had many trips, she became ill.
However, in early 2025, when the pain became unbearable, she went to a hospital in Can Tho City and was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer, then transferred to Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital for treatment.
In addition, she herself also suffered from pulmonary overflow, continuous knee pain... which exhausted her both mentally and mentally.
According to the plan, from April 2025 to now, every 3 weeks, Ms. Dieu has to go "without medicine" in Ho Chi Minh City at a cost of nearly 30 million VND for medicine. Each trip, for both-way and-back vehicles alone, costs about 3.5 million VND.
The doctor said she had to get 10 doses of medicine for more than 150 million VND, not including other expenses. Now, I only know when I have money to go, because I can't borrow anyone anymore.
"The cost of medicine is too much, while selling lottery tickets for decades now, I have only worried about food and clothing. Now that I am sick, I just hope to hold on to the day to see my children grow up. Honestly, I don't know where the live bears are anymore," Ms. Dieu choked up.
sympathizing with Mrs. Dieu's suffering, Mrs. 7 Lan, her neighbor, said that Ms. Dieu now only lives a day at a time. Seeing her in pain, her legs swollen and I felt heartbroken. She could only share a little, sometimes fish, meat, a little rice, hoping she would try her best to make a living.
"Rural people are also poor, they can only collect a few tens of thousands, many hundreds of thousands of VND, so they do not absorb Ms. Dieu's medical expenses," Ms. 7 Lan added.
Talking to Lao Dong, Mr. Tran Van Tot - Party Cell Secretary, Head of Hamlet 1, Quoi An Commune - confirmed: "Ba Dieu has had a disease since the beginning of 2025. Previously, the family was a poor household, but later when her eldest daughter went to work as a worker, she escaped poverty".
However, her job is unstable, her income is small, not enough to cover the cost of medicine to treat her mother. Currently, her mother is sick and needs someone to help her, so Mrs. Dieu's child has to quit his job, so there is no source of income.
"The local government also pays attention and gives priority when there are benefactors coming to the locality to support. Mobilized more than 3 million VND in support in early August 2025.
In a simple house, the woman who used to roam around selling lottery tickets now can only rely on the care of the community to have more hope to prolong her life, overcome the challenging days ahead," Mr. Tot added.
All help with LD25044 life would like to send to the Golden Heart Social Fund - 51 Hang Bo, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi. Account number (STK) 113000000758 at VietinBank Hoan Kiem Branch, Hanoi; STK: 0021000303088 - At Vietcombank Hanoi Branch; STK: 12410001122556 - At BIDV Hoan Kiem Branch.
Or please scan the QR code:
Or contact Ms. Le Kim Dieu directly at: Quoi An commune, Vinh Long province. Phone number: 0865.368.025
