80 year old father sells baskets to raise mentally ill son

(Baonghean.vn) - Countless times, his mentally ill son chased him with a knife because of his fits. However, the 80-year-old man still diligently went out to sell baskets and trays to support his son.

80-year-old Nguyen Van Dan still sells baskets of goods every day to support his mentally ill son. Photo: Nhu Suong

People living in Hamlet 7, Quynh Thang Commune (Quynh Luu District, Nghe An) all feel sorry when mentioning the family situation of Mr. Nguyen Van Dan (born in 1938), who still goes out in the sun and rain every day to sell baskets to earn money to raise his only son who has a mental illness.

We made an appointment to meet Mr. Nguyen Van Dan after a village market. The village road leading to his house was covered with straw and dried rice from the harvest. The old roof was hidden under a row of lush jackfruit trees.

Seeing strangers coming to his house, Mr. Dan with a cart loaded with heavy baskets, trays, and trays dragged it up from the alley entrance. Today the market ended late but he did not seem happy. Because it was the season but not many people asked to buy his baskets.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, the old man invited us into the house and ran to find his son who had broken the chain and gone out the window that morning. His haggard face was filled with sadness, his high cheekbones making his tired eyes look even deeper. Wrinkles were densely interwoven on his skin, darkened by the elements.

After running around the garden, he came back with a sad look and said: "The neighbors said he ran down to the lower village to cause trouble and was detained by the commune police!"

Although he is 80 years old, Mr. Nguyen Van Dan has not had a day of rest. Photo: Nhu Suong

Mr. Nguyen Van Dan's family had many siblings, so his childhood was a series of hard days. Luckily for him, he married a gentle and hard-working wife, so the couple was always happy. But the joy was short-lived, after giving birth to a son, he named Nguyen Van At (born in 1964), his wife became seriously ill and passed away.

As the days passed, At gradually grew up and learned to help his father, which reduced his hardship. At was over 30 years old and settled down with a coastal girl from Thanh Hoa named Dang Thi Hang.

However, just when it seemed like Mr. Dan would be able to rest, one disaster after another befell his family. It started with the days when Mr. Dan was "visited" by illness, with two stomach ruptures and one eye surgery.

Ironically, when Mr. Dan had just recovered, Mr. At fell into a state of confusion, sometimes dreaming, sometimes awake, and then gradually turned into madness.

“When I was sick, he was very worried about me. Whenever he heard of a good doctor or good medicine, he would take me to that person. After several years of traveling from East to West, I finally came back to take traditional medicine from an ethnic man. My illness gradually improved and then completely recovered until now,” Mr. Dan recounted.

But then, At's mental illness became more and more serious, from talking nonsense to having crazy attacks, destroying things in the house and even chasing his father with a knife. Every time he had an attack, At turned the small house into a battlefield.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dan and his daughter-in-law and mentally ill son. Photo: Nhu Suong

Mr. Dan choked up and said that many times he had a severe illness and sat in the house all day screaming, cursing, tearing the curtains, and ruffling the pillows and blankets... His family had to buy a chain to tie him to the corner of the house so he wouldn't run around, but no matter how big the lock was, he would break it. Many days, the door was locked and At was locked inside the house, but At would crawl out through the window. At ran out into the street to cause trouble with people, forcing his father to borrow money to compensate them. Or there was a time when he took his youngest daughter and cycled all the way to his maternal grandparents' house in Thanh Hoa. Luckily, someone knew and reported the news to his family...

Loving his sick children and grandchildren who were still in school, even though he was 80 years old, he still stayed up late and woke up early to help his daughter-in-law with the rice fields and took the opportunity to sell baskets and baskets at the village market. But that wholesale business was not profitable because few people used the products he sold. Every day he went to the market, he only earned a few tens of thousands.

Despite all the hardships, his sleep at night was not complete. He was always restless and afraid that the madness inside him would flare up in the quiet of the night.

“In the past, regardless of day or night, he would have crazy fits and destroy everything in the house. He would play and laugh happily, then run out to the street or the market. Whenever he saw goods for sale, he would jump in and take them and throw them out on the street. He would also take a bicycle parked next to the fence and climb it. When he got bored, he would leave the bike there. Or sometimes when he saw a car passing by, he would stand in the road and block the front of the car…” - he gradually recounted in pain. He also said in a choked voice: “Many people did not know he was sick and beat him. One day, when I came home, I saw him bleeding from his nose and mouth. When he had a fit, I could only give him sleeping pills to stop the fit, there was no other way.”

Because Mr. At was sick, all his wealth and assets had been gone for a long time, and his wife had to work hard to raise their four children. The family's land was only over 1 sao, so they lacked food all year round. Ms. Hang had to work for hire in the villages to earn money to feed her children. Life was difficult and hard, but for the sake of her children, she tried her best. However, her hard-working life was not enough to eat.

Fortunately, her family received sympathy and support from neighbors. People helped with rice, chickens, and recently, with a 30 million VND loan to escape poverty, Mr. Dan was able to buy a calf to raise. However, the whole year of care was only enough to buy sleeping pills for Mr. At.

Despite the hardships and difficulties of life and even the times when death refused to let him go, Mr. Dan still struggled to make a living every day with his rickshaw full of baskets. His biggest dream was that during the harvest season, many people would feel sorry for him and buy him a few pairs of baskets so that he could have money to buy meat for his only son, who was extremely pitiful.

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