The tragic life of former An Giang Club player

Coming from An Giang Club, playing football in Cambodia with the hope of changing his life but being continuously cheated, striker Le Hoang Duy was frustrated and retired to work as a security guard. However, difficulties have not left Duy alone when recently, his 6-month-old daughter was diagnosed with a serious illness, possibly requiring blood transfusions for the rest of her life...

Duy's house is at the foot of Sam Mountain, more than 1 km from Ba Chau Doc Pagoda, An Giang Province. Duy's father works as a motorbike taxi driver and a photographer for tourists visiting the pagoda. After retiring, Duy worked as a security guard at the Victoria Hotel with a salary of more than 4 million VND/month.

Life was already poor, the 40 million VND loan from the bank to raise pigs that died due to the epidemic has not been paid off yet, now Duy's family is facing more difficulties when their daughter Le Tran Thien Ngoc is sick. Doctors at Children's Hospital 1 (HCMC) diagnosed her with Alpha Thalassemia, also known as hereditary hemolytic anemia.

“Last April, seeing that our daughter had a fever of over 40 degrees for several days without improvement, my husband and I took a day off from work to take her to Children's Hospital 1 for a check-up. My daughter was hospitalized for a whole week, tested several times, and the doctors concluded that she had hemolytic anemia. A normal person with red blood cell deficiency can live for 120 days, but my daughter only lives for 20 days. The doctor scheduled a follow-up visit for May 17. The test results will then determine how much blood the baby loses each month and whether or not she needs a blood transfusion once a month. Not to mention the amount of blood that needs to be transfused each time because the older the baby gets, the more transfusions she needs,” Hoang Duy said bitterly.

According to the player who was called up to the main team of An Giang in 2009 but has never played, his family life is extremely difficult. “I checked the price at the hospital, each month if I transfuse 100 ml of blood it costs about 900,000 VND. The family can afford this amount, but the doctor said that the older he gets, the more blood he needs to be transfused, 400-500 ml/month is normal. I asked the doctor if it was okay for a family member to donate blood, they said yes but we have to wait for testing, then run a laser to kill bacteria. Therefore, the doctor advised using the hospital's blood and said he is not responsible for side effects if the patient receives blood from a family member" - Duy worried.

Le Hoang Duy (right) playing football in Cambodia

With a little daughter suffering from a serious illness

As a player trained at An Giang, and having Cambodian nationality because he played football in the capital Phnom Penh, Le Hoang Duy is still poor. He joined An Giang's first team in 2009 but was too young so the coaching staff agreed to loan him to Police Club in the Cambodian Championship. When Duy went to Phnom Penh, Police Club loaned him to a mediocre club, Prek Pra Keila, along with two teammates.

“That club naturalized me as a domestic player so that they could recruit foreign players from Africa to play. I played for a whole year, and every now and then the club would reward me with about 250,000-500,000 VND. It was so hard, we asked to go home but the coach’s wife held my ID and refused to return it, so we had to stay and play the rest of the tournament. In 2012, it was Ta Keo Club’s turn to borrow me. Although they were more cautious than the previous time, they promised to pay me 400 USD/month, so I still agreed to play. Unexpectedly, the second time I was tricked, they only paid 300 USD, and I played for 2 months and then paid 1 month. I returned empty-handed” - Duy said sadly.

Last year, Le Hoang Duy retired, worked as a security guard and supported his family by raising pigs. Unexpectedly, all the pigs died of an epidemic. From the 15 million VND he borrowed from the bank, he had to borrow money from outside to pay it back, so now his debt has increased to 40 million VND.

“I pay 1 million VND in interest each month, and I spend all my income on my daughter’s medical treatment. A doctor at Children’s Hospital 1 advised me to have a bone marrow transplant for my daughter, which can completely cure her hemolytic anemia. However, the cost is too high, so now I can only rely on friends, former colleagues and philanthropists to help. If anyone can help my daughter Thien Ngoc, my wife and I will be grateful for the rest of our lives,” he confided.

According to Nguoilaodong