Woman with cancer forced to sell her house after being tricked into owing a large amount of money

We learned about the dire situation of Ms. Ngo Thi Lam (born in 1963) in block 9, Le Loi ward (Vinh city) through the reflection of some local residents.

In the pale afternoon sunlight of an early August day, Mrs. Lam had just returned from Nghe An Oncology Hospital, her face pale, tired and her voice weak. After the third chemotherapy treatment, not only had her health declined, she was exhausted, her head had to be shaved due to almost all her hair falling out, but her savings had also been exhausted.

With tears in her eyes, looking at her two grandchildren playing innocently in front of the house, Mrs. Ngo Thi Lam coughed and confided: "I don't know if I will live or die. The doctor said that if my illness progresses well, I will enter the radiation therapy phase with a course of 25 treatments, each costing 1 million VND. But now I don't know where to get the money for treatment, plus the debt to pay. But if I sell the house, my husband, children, and grandchildren will be helpless and heartbroken. I won't be able to rest in peace even if I die."

The road to Mrs. Ngo Thi Lam's house. Photo: Hoai Thu

Lam's simple house is located quite deep in a small alley. Ms. Tran Thi Ha - Head of Block 9, Le Loi Ward said that Ms. Lam is nearly 60 years old this year. Both husband and wife are freelance workers, working for hire to earn a living and raise 2 grown sons. Ms. Lam's husband, Mr. Nguyen Phuc An, used to be a security guard at a motel in Hung Dung Ward, but has been out of work for more than a year due to poor health.

Ms. Ngo Thi Lam is currently being treated for stage 3 breast cancer. Photo: Hoai Thu

Ms. Ngo Thi Lam herself also does whatever she is hired to do. For a long time, she worked as a janitor for a motel in Hung Binh ward, but for more than a year now she has quit her job due to poor health, so she has to stay home to help her eldest son and his wife take care of their grandchildren. "Both my husband and I do not have a pension, and we are also burdened with huge debts. Even if neighbors and authorities support us, it is only to a certain extent," Ms. Tran Thi Ha shared.

Showing us the current state of the house with only 2 bedrooms, Ms. Lam said that her eldest son and his wife had to rent a room in block 3 to live, sell goods online, and help deliver goods to those who rented them, but their income was not much. In early 2020, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic and social distancing, it was difficult to find a job, even Ms. Lam's second son, who was working for a private company installing cameras, had to quit his job.

In May 2020, Ms. Ngo Thi Lam discovered she had stage 3 breast cancer. “Without any savings, I had to borrow money from relatives and friends to pay for surgery and chemotherapy. I will need tens of millions for radiation therapy in the near future, but I may have to give up because I have no money left. I am selling my house to pay off my debt, but I haven’t finished yet.”

Ms. Ngo Thi Lam hopes to receive help and support from the community and society. Photo: Hoai Thu

Asked why she was in debt, Ms. Lam said that a few years ago, following the enticement of a person in Ha Tinh, she and her husband mortgaged their house to the bank to borrow 500 million VND to send their son to work abroad in the hope of helping him have some capital to do business in the future.

Quickly wiping away her tears, Ms. Lam said: “We didn’t expect to encounter a scammer and lose all our money. My family reported to the police, there was a wanted notice for the scammer, but so far there have been no results, and we have not been able to get our money back. Every month, my family has to pay interest and principal on the bank loan. My two children and my husband and I save up every penny we earn to pay the bank interest each month. Now that we have cancer, there is no other way but to sell the house to pay off the debt and have money for medical treatment. Not being able to sell the house, at times I was so desperate that I had to take out a “hot” loan to have money to pay off the bank loan and pay for medical expenses."
Seeing the woman's trembling hands arranging the medical records, the medicine bills, her tears falling and smearing the ink made us feel sad and sympathetic. She really felt like she was at the end of her rope, just hoping for a place to hold on to, hoping for some miracle to happen to save her and her family from the current situation.

Leaving Mrs. Lam’s house, we could not help but be haunted by the sad eyes and heavy sighs of the old couple. The miserable woman carried within her a terrible disease but always worried about the future if she died, how her husband, children, and grandchildren would live without a stable job, without a place to live…