The tragic situation of a disabled mother and child

Cao Thi Ba and her daughter are both disabled. Photo: Mai Giang

Arriving at the small empty house, I met Ms. Cao Thi Ba being carried down from the motorbike by her nephew. She said: I just came back from the hospital. I am disabled and have a grade 3 heart failure combined with stomach pain, so I have to go to the hospital regularly. The small, empty house has nothing of value except a bed for the mother and child. Ms. Ba tearfully shared her life story. She was born in 1968, like many other girls, she grew up healthy, active, and worked hard in the fields with her parents.

However, when she was 20 years old, her leg joints began to swell, making it difficult for her to walk. Although her parents borrowed money everywhere, mortgaged their land titles to borrow money at daily interest rates to have money to take her to hospitals for treatment, the disease could not be cured.

Thinking that no one would marry her due to her illness, she decided to find a child to be her companion and share her hardships. In 1990, she gave birth to a son, Cao Van Hai, happily with much hope. However, since birth, Hai has been disabled, with shriveled limbs, unable to speak, and mentally abnormal. Although he is 28 years old, Hai only crawls on the floor all day. She has tried to treat her son, but all efforts have failed.

Cao Van Hai is 28 years old but every day he just crawls on the floor.

Since Hai's birth, Ba's illness has gotten worse. The arthritis has made her legs atrophied and stiff, making it impossible for her to walk, forcing her to use a wheelchair. Her hands are also cramping, making it impossible for her to hold anything. The life of the disabled mother and son, from eating to hygiene, depends on their elderly mother and her brother and his wife.

But then all the people she and her children could rely on were gone. Her old mother passed away in 2016, then in 2017 her brother passed away from cancer, and her sister-in-law is currently hospitalized in Hanoi with a brain tumor.

All daily activities of Ba and her children now depend on Cao Thanh Minh Phuoc (6th grade student). Only 12 years old, Phuoc cooks every day and does not hesitate to help Ba and her children with hygiene.

Not only paralyzed, Ba also suffers from heart and stomach diseases, and has to rely on neighbors to take her to the hospital every few days. In addition to the disability allowance of 1,080,000 VND that the mother and daughter receive, their daily meals, medicine, and medicine are supported by neighbors, some more or less.

Ms. Ba's biggest worry is not knowing what will happen to her son when her health is getting weaker.

With no future and no one to rely on, the life of Ba and her son became miserable. What worried Ba the most was not knowing what would happen to her son when her health was getting worse.

The situation of Ba and her son really needs the sympathy and help of the community so that she can be treated, have better health, and be a support for her son.

Please send any help to Ms. Cao Thi Ba - Hamlet 6, Dien An Commune, Dien Chau District, Province.Nghe An