List of 'death' in cancer villages

(Baonghean.vn)- The 'storm' of cancer has swept through, leaving many villages in Nghia Dan district in a state of despair.

List of "death"

Mr. Dang Xuan Phap, head of Phu Tien hamlet, Nghia Phu commune, Nghia Dan district, welcomed us with a sigh, “In this village, just stepping out of the alley will lead to cancer. It hurts so much to think about it! That terrible disease spares no one. Not only does it kill the elderly, but it also spares the young. No one living here can be sure that they will not be the next.”

Without opening the notebook, he sat down and listed the names of the sick people in the neighborhood. From their family circumstances to the type of cancer and the time they died.

“In just the last five or seven years, this whole neighborhood has had 40 cases of cancer. Mainly nasopharyngeal, lung, liver cancer, etc. It’s very painful! Most of them die young,” Mr. Phap said sadly.

This number is still not really accurate because since there have been many cancer cases, no one dares to go for a check-up for fear that they will also get cancer like the others. “Either way, we will die! It is better to not know and live happily for a few more days than to live in fear all day long,” one resident sighed.

Following Mr. Phap’s instructions, we went to the house of Le Dinh Vu, who had recently passed away from brain cancer at the age of 17. In the small house, the young mother sat silently beside the altar of her son. Vu’s passing had caused a great shock to the whole family.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Sinh, 47 years old, mother of Le Dinh Vu, died of brain cancer. Photo: Thuy Loi

“Poor little boy! Just the day before he was helping his mother herd the cows, the next day he came home complaining of a headache. I thought he had sunstroke from being out in the sun, but from that day on, he cried every day. More than a month later, I took him to the doctor and was shocked to find out he had brain cancer. The whole family tried to find a cure everywhere, but to no avail,” the mother sobbed.

Not far from Mr. Phap’s house, Nguyen Van An, an unfortunate victim, just passed away at the age of 40 from lung cancer. “He was a hard-working man, and lived with foresight, but God had the heart to kill him. What a waste!”, a neighbor lamented.

Not only Phu Tien hamlet, but also 3 hamlets adjacent to 1/5 farm, Hoa Vinh Son, Binh Minh, Vinh Quang (Nghia Hoi commune) are in the same situation.

According to Mr. Cao Xuan Tang, head of Hoa Vinh Son hamlet: “All the hamlets around the 1/5 farm have people with cancer. In the last 3-4 years, there have been more than 20 cases of cancer in my hamlet alone, and there have been many cases of tumors, miscarriages, and premature births.

The most worrying case is when 2 or 3 people in a family get sick at the same time, like the case of Cao Van Phuong and his son in Vinh Quang neighborhood. The son got leukemia when he was only 20 years old. While everyone was still in shock, the father (42 years old) discovered he had terminal liver cancer.

Two "disasters" have befallen the family that has not yet escaped the "sentence" of being a poor household in the neighborhood. More than a month after the disease was discovered, the father and son both passed away, leaving behind a "bulk" of debt and three children for the wife to manage alone. Everyone is worried, not knowing where such a terrible disease came from.

List of cancer patients in Phu Tien hamlet that Mr. Phap monitors. Photo: Thuy Loi

Finding the cause

Although the water source used by the local people has not been tested, everyone believes that the source of cancer in this area is the water source from Phu Tho dam, Nghia Phu commune. In particular, Phu Tien hamlet is at the source so it has the highest cancer rate.

“Previously, people used pesticides to protect coffee plants from pests. After each rain, water poured into the dam, so after many years, the water source was contaminated. In fact, this is the source of water for daily life of households in the area, so it is very likely that this is the cause of cancer,” Nguyen Van Long, a worker at the farm, speculated.

Phu Tho Dam is the main source of water supply for local people. Photo: Thuy Loi

According to Mr. Long, Phu Tien hamlet used to be a place to store fertilizers and pesticides of the 1/5 farm. There are many warehouses storing pesticides (type 666, DDT, ...) scattered in the hamlet and along the Phu Tho dam. These pesticides are all very toxic to humans and are now banned. It takes decades for these pesticides to decompose.

It is worth mentioning that the two kindergartens and Nghia Phu Primary School located in Phu Tien hamlet were built on land that used to be a pesticide warehouse. Every day, teachers and students still use raw well water for their daily use.

“Many times people have reported to the government, and the press has also come to get information. However, there has been no news, we can only wait in vain,” Mr. Long confided.

In the weak afternoon sunlight, the faint scent of incense leaves wafting from the houses of the sick, I left, my heart filled with pity for the hard-working farmers. Which name would be written next in the village chief’s notebook?

I wondered and choked up when I thought about the innocent eyes of little Quyen - Mr. Diep's daughter - those clear eyes that were about to no longer see her father. Her poor father was now struggling in pain to count his last days.

Irrigation