The pitiful situation of a veteran in Nghe An raising a child with cerebral palsy

Arriving at Mr. Thu's house (60 years old) in My Thuong village, Hung My commune on a hot day in mid-June, in front of the house, he was sitting watching his son with cerebral palsy lying in a wheelchair. Although 23 years old, Le Huu Phuoc looked like a 7-year-old child, with a shrunken body, cramped limbs, and a mumbling sound...

Mr. Thu said that he and his wife have 3 children, when they were born they were all normal like other children. However, after a while, their children all got the same illness, their bodies did not develop, their limbs gradually atrophied, they were skin and bones, they could not walk, could not speak...

When their first son, Le Dinh Tuan Anh, suffered from a disease believed to be “cerebral palsy,” it was more than 10 years later that they had another child, but the next two children born in 2001 and 2003 still suffered from the same disease as their older brother.

Grieving over their fate, the couple had to swallow their tears, take turns taking care of their children, running around, taking them to hospitals for treatment, but in the end were still helpless against the illness of their poor children.

For decades, his family has lived in poverty both materially and spiritually. In 2004, the youngest son, Le Dinh Co, passed away before he was even 1 year old. In October 2022, the eldest son, Le Dinh Tuan Anh, after 33 years of fighting illness, also left him and his wife.

Looking at his children's portraits on the altar in the middle of the house, Mr. Thu said as if he was about to cry: My wife and I tried our best, but could not cure our children's illnesses.

Mr. Thu shared: In April 1981, he enlisted in the army and trained new recruits in Khe Lang (Ha Tinh). In July of that year, he was sent to Cambodia and assigned to Company 1, Battalion 218, Regiment 686, Division 339, Military Region 9, stationed and fought against Pol Pot in the Cambodia - Thailand border area.

In 1988, he was discharged from the army and returned to his hometown, where he worked as a police officer. According to Mr. Thu and the documents he still kept, during his time fighting in the Cambodian battlefield, he suffered many wounds on his body from bombs and bullets (on his right arm, right shoulder, right thigh, left thigh, right buttock, right heel).

In 1993, he received a disability allowance of 600,000 VND. Currently, he does not receive any state benefits.

Lifting his shorts to reveal a wound on his thigh, Mr. Thu sadly said: "When I joined the Vietnamese volunteer army in Cambodia, I always tried my best, overcame hardships, and sometimes even faced death, but still fought with all my might to defeat the enemy and complete my mission. But when I returned to normal life... I didn't know what my life would be like."

He married Mrs. Ho Thi Tram (born 1964), from the same district, daughter of martyr Ho Xuan Chinh, who died in 1969 on the Gia Lai battlefield. He thought that the love and hard work of the couple would be rewarded, but "life was too unfortunate".

Now 2 of the 3 disabled children have passed away, the husband's health is getting worse and worse, he can't do heavy work, Mrs. Tram, the main breadwinner, had a stroke last year, and now has a thyroid tumor. In the family, 3 people are often sick but only depend on the small amount of disability allowance from their son.

Talking about the situation of Mr. Thu's family, Mr. Le Thanh Dong - Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung My commune said: "Mr. Le Dinh Thu is a veteran who fought in Cambodia for many years. Previously, Mr. Thu received a one-time subsidy, but now he does not receive any benefits. He and his wife are raising a disabled child, and are a veteran family with especially difficult circumstances in the commune."