Going to school in a wheelchair, the girl with congenital muscular atrophy burns with the desire to learn

Nguyen Thi Phuong has suffered from muscular atrophy since she was a child. She depends on her grandparents for all her daily activities. Photo: Huu Vi

Nguyen Thi Phuong’s small, makeshift wooden house is hidden behind a dense acacia garden in Hop Thanh village, Don Phuc commune, Con Cuong district (Nghe An). The 12-year-old girl looks as skinny as a weak baby squirrel and only her eyes always light up with a vague desire. Maybe it’s the desire to run on her own two feet because since growing up, she has never been able to stand up by herself, let alone walk.

Phuong barely knows her father. She lives with her grandparents because her mother is often away from home. Nguyen Thi Ngan (Phuong's mother) travels around the world all year round, working for restaurants. Her job is unstable, so the burden of taking care of Phuong falls heavily on the shoulders of Mr. Hanh and Mrs. Lien, both of whom are in their sixties.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh recalled that the family discovered the disease when Phuong was only 3 months old. At that time, Phuong's parents had separated. Since then, Phuong's life has been closely linked to hospitals. "From district and provincial hospitals to hospitals in Hanoi, we took her to all of them" - Mr. Hanh shared: "After that, the doctors said this disease could not be cured. It was just a waste of money. But because we loved her, we did not care."

Ms. Nguyen Thi Lien, Phuong’s grandmother, said that according to the doctors, Phuong has congenital muscular dystrophy. This terrible disease makes her only able to sit in one place. She has to struggle to crawl around the house. All her activities depend on her grandmother to take care of her.

Although not as lucky as many others, Nguyen Thi Phuong always tries hard in her studies. Photo: Ba Hau

However, Nguyen Thi Phuong always shows her thirst for learning and passion for knowledge. Her hands are so weak that every time she writes, Phuong is a "wrestling" with the pen. With her right hand, she can only complete 1 or 2 pages of paper, then she has to use both hands to continue writing, but Phuong's handwriting is still very neat. She said that she likes Literature and reading literary and scientific books.

Since childhood, although she did not go to school and had no one to teach her, Phuong found a way to learn to read and write on her own. At kindergarten age, she could read and write fluently. After that, she was admitted to first grade without going through preschool. Currently, she is a 6B student at Mau Duc Secondary School (Con Cuong).

For more than 5 years now, his grandfather has been Phuong's school friend. Photo: Huu Vi

Knowing that his granddaughter loves to study, for over 5 years, Mr. Hanh has become his granddaughter's companion to school. At around 6am, Mr. Hanh pushes Phuong to class in a wheelchair. At noon, he picks her up. On days when there are afternoon classes, Mr. Hanh has to take her to and from school 4 times. Mr. Hanh said: He has no other wish than to find a way to cure her. Over the years, the family has also received attention from authorities at all levels. The school also exempts all contributions for Phuong and also supports her a lot in terms of material and spiritual matters.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Vy - Principal of Mau Duc Secondary School, in the past years, Nguyen Thi Phuong has always been at the top of the school in terms of academic performance. However, she often feels inferior, so encouraging Phuong is extremely important.

Phuong said she always hopes that, thanks to the progress of science, her illness will be cured. She is trying to study hard so that in the future she can become a doctor to treat less fortunate people like her.