Poor guy 'carries' a 'giant' tumor for over 20 years

Visiting Mr. Pham Van Tu's family,The small house where he lived was dilapidated and run-down, located deep in an alley in Tan Lac town, Quy Chau district. We were greeted by a young man with a thin, weak and unusual figure with a large tumor on his body.

Ms. Pham Thi Hoa (Tu’s mother) said that Tu was born with a congenital lipoma. When it was first discovered, it was not that big, but when he was 10 years old, the tumor grew larger and larger. At that time, his family took him to the doctor and the doctor said that he had to have surgery to remove the tumor, but because he did not have money for treatment, he had to “live with” this terrible disease.

Mr. Tu currently lives with his mother, Mrs. Pham Thi Hoa, who is over 70 years old, and his younger brother, Pham Van Sung. His mother has heart disease and is old and weak, and his younger brother does not have a stable job. The family's life depends on the disability allowance the State gives him (over 500,000 VND/month) and the little money his younger brother earns from working for hire. The income is not enough to cover the daily expenses of the three of them, let alone pay for medicine for Mr. Tu and Mrs. Hoa.

“Every day, seeing my child carrying a large, heavy, and tiring tumor on his body makes me feel so sad, I just hope that one day I can see him healthy and normal like everyone else. On windy and rainy days, the tumor presses on his nerves, causing his whole body to ache, making him toss and turn all night without sleep. Loving him, I can only stay by his side and massage him to help ease his pain. When the pain is relieved, then Tu can lie on his side to sleep,” Mrs. Hoa sadly shared.

The tumor on Mr. Tu's back grew larger and larger and spread throughout his body. Recently, the tumor grew to weigh about 10kg, making all his daily activities very difficult. Mr. Tu even went all day without wearing a shirt because of the heavy, uncomfortable and inconvenient feeling; he often had to lie on his side in bed.

Sympathizing with Tu's family situation, the people in the block all shared and helped with some of the expenses to buy medicine for him and his mother. Moreover, with everyone's encouragement, the family recently took Tu to the hospital for a check-up. The doctor said that the tumor on his body could be removed; if left for too long, there was a risk of rupture, causing death or the tumor could turn malignant, at which point it would be very difficult to treat. However, because the tumor was large and complicated, the cost of surgery exceeded the family's ability.

Sharing about Tu's family situation, Mr. Dao Minh Duc - Vice Chairman of Tan Lac Town People's Committee (Quy Chau) said: "Pham Van Tu's family is one of the households with particularly difficult circumstances in the locality. Tu himself has a large tumor on his body, if he can have surgery to remove it, the family said the cost will be about 100 million VND. Due to difficult circumstances, Tu has not yet received treatment.

The local government has promoted and mobilized the Quy Chau charity group, along with a number of other charity groups and people in Block 2, to support the family with 12 million VND. On holidays and Tet, the locality always has gifts for Mr. Tu's family. In particular, the locality has paid attention to reviewing and making statistics to put Mr. Pham Van Tu's family on the list of proposed support and housing construction in the coming time. However, the commune still has many difficulties, so it can only help a small part. Hopefully, there will be more benefactors who open their hearts to help Mr. Tu have the conditions to treat, overcome the disease, and recover his health.

All donations to support Mr. Pham Van Tu please send to: Quy Chau Charity Fund.

Representative: Nguyen Van Ai, account number: 7634 - Military Bank (MBbank).