Overcoming serious illness, Nghe An female student becomes talented Mathematics Pedagogy student

Overcoming serious illness

Thai Huyen Trang (2006) grew up in Hoa Son commune, Do Luong district (now Van Hien commune) and was the only child in the family. Due to infertility and having children at an old age, Trang's parents had many dreams and expectations for her. Trang herself was also a good and studious girl, so she passed the entrance exam to Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School, the top quality school in Do Luong district (old).

Life would have been peaceful like that if in 7th grade, after a fever, she had been admitted to Nghe An Children's Hospital and her health was given a bad prognosis. At that time, because the district's excellent student exam was very close, after receiving 5 bags of blood, Trang asked to be discharged from the hospital to take part in the exam. As a result, she came in second place in the district in Mathematics.

That was also Trang's last beautiful memory at this school. Because, only 1 month after that exam, she went back to the provincial Hematology Center for a check-up. Because her health was still normal but her red blood cells kept decreasing, the doctors at the center had to do a bone marrow aspiration to check. After that, she was diagnosed with a dangerous disease so she was transferred to the Central Hematology Hospital. Here, after only the first test, Trang received the result of leukemia. Recalling those days, Trang said: I knew that cancer could be fatal but maybe because I was still young, I felt normal. At that time, the thing I regretted the most was not being able to go to school to study with my friends.

Looking at their little daughter, Trang’s parents could not hold back their tears. On the contrary, Trang was very calm and told her parents that she would decide to undergo chemotherapy. In the following days, Trang would undergo chemotherapy once a week and continuously for many months. After 12 rounds of chemotherapy, Trang’s health deteriorated a lot, and her hair gradually fell out.

During the chemotherapy, Trang said, if the first few times she felt weak and could not eat or drink anything, the next times her body almost lost all vitality and she had to lie flat on the bed. Along with the chemotherapy, she also had to go to Bach Mai Hospital for brain radiation to avoid complications. During the longest treatment, she stayed in the hospital for more than 2 months and did not return home once.

After chemotherapy, Trang entered 8th grade, and because of poor health, she had to transfer from the district's specialized school to Kim Dong Secondary School, the school where her mother was teaching.

During her treatment and examination, Trang became a special patient at the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion. Through conversations with doctors at the Institute, Trang's family also learned about the treatment of leukemia by stem cell transplantation. The hospital leaders, knowing Trang's difficult family situation, created conditions for her to receive support for stem cell transplantation according to a state-level scientific research project conducted by the Institute.

Speaking more about this journey, Trang said: Because I am an only child, the doctors at the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion advised me to use community cord blood stem cells from the Institute's Stem Cell Bank. Luckily for me, while many people have difficulty finding stem cell sources, I easily found a suitable source and after only 1 week I received the transplant.

To perform stem cell transplantation, Trang had to embark on a very difficult journey, sometimes she had to lie down, had malaria, and could only drink rice water. She also said that since she found out she had cancer and had undergone many chemotherapy sessions, Trang had never cried. But when it came time to have her bone marrow aspirated and drilled, Trang's tears kept falling. At that time, it was not because Trang was not strong, but because she was in so much pain, the pain permeated her bones and her whole body, making her unable to stand.

As long as there is life, there is hope.

The process of cancer treatment and stem cell transplant caused Trang to study 1 year behind her friends. During the days lying in the hospital bed, Trang also learned about the Network for Children with Cancer and its founder Nguyen Dieu Thuan - a sister from the same hometown, who had the will to overcome the dangerous disease of leukemia.

With the desire to share with the community, Trang began to learn and practice knitting hats and scarves with the hope of helping children with cancer keep warm and cover their bald heads.

Later, after being discharged from the hospital and returning to normal life, Trang still maintained this job so that every time she went for a check-up at the Institute of Hematology, she would have small gifts to give to the children being treated at the hospital.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Trang practiced knitting ear hooks to hang masks to give to the medical staff on the front lines fighting the epidemic.

Last summer, Trang continued crocheting, making hundreds of hairpins, key chains and brooches shaped like the national flag, sending them to the Network for Children with Cancer to sell to raise funds and support children with cancer.

Over the past 3 years, after her health recovered, Trang has returned to normal life. She passed the entrance exam to Do Luong 3 High School and was an excellent student for 3 consecutive years. In grade 12, Trang was one of the few students at the school honored to be admitted to the Party.

With excellent academic achievements, Trang had a successful graduation exam season. With 26 points, she became one of the students admitted to the talented Mathematics Pedagogy major of the Pedagogical University -Vinh University. This has been my dream since I was a child to be able to stand on the podium, teach, teach students and continue my family's tradition.

New student Thai Huyen Trang also said that although she knows the road ahead is full of difficulties, as long as she lives, there is hope, and as long as she lives, she must be a useful person to live a meaningful life.