The heartbreaking ordeal of a young Khmu mother that moved the community.

(Baonghean) - Who would have thought that the small-scale gasoline sales business of Ms. Danh and her husband, aimed at earning a few extra dollars to make ends meet, would be the source of tragedy? At 5 PM on April 21st, their eldest daughter, Kim Trung, returned home from school and accidentally played with fire. The flames caught onto the gasoline can in the bedroom and erupted fiercely.

At that moment, Ms. Danh was cooking rice in the kitchen. Seeing thick smoke and flames rising from her house, she was terrified, thinking her two children were engulfed in the fire. After a desperate cry for help, she rushed into the flames hoping to find and save them. Neighbors quickly came to her house and joined in putting out the fire. But the raging fire not only caused Ms. Danh to suffer severe burns all over her body, but two other neighbors, Luong Thi Minh and Hoa Me Niem, also suffered serious burns. After the fire was extinguished, amidst the tragic scene, the villagers realized that Ms. Danh's two children had miraculously escaped before their mother rushed into the flames. The mother, with her boundless love for her children, didn't even have time to know that her two children were safe. She had fainted before being pulled out of the fire...

Ms. Cụt Thị Đanh has been transferred to a higher-level hospital for treatment. Photo: TH

At dusk, Mr. Thuong returned from the fields, overwhelmed by the devastation and the terrible news. He rushed to Ky Son District Hospital and almost collapsed in front of his wife's body, wrapped in white bandages. Both sets of grandparents wept uncontrollably, cradling his two young children in their arms. Due to the severity of her burns, after initial first aid and treatment at the district hospital, Mrs. Danh was transferred to the provincial hospital. There, she was assessed to have suffered burns to 80% of her body (fourth-degree burns), was in a coma, and was in critical condition.

Cụt Thị Đanh and Cụt Văn Thượng are both Khơ mú people, residing in Xốp Phe village, Mường Típ commune, Kỳ Sơn district, a remote border area. Married in 2010, the young couple earned their living by going into the forest and catching shrimp and fish in the streams to feed their two children (one 5 years old, the other 2 years old). In recent years, seeing that people in the commune had bought motorbikes and the road through the village had been widened, Đanh and her husband decided that Thượng would go to Mường Xén town daily to buy gasoline to sell to the villagers. Little did they know…

Ms. Cụt Thị Đanh was transferred to a higher-level hospital for treatment.

Mr. Thuong took his wife to the provincial hospital without a single penny. Their entire possessions—their house and nearly 2 million dong they had saved in a pillowcase—had vanished into thin air. Their neighbors were also poor... Mr. Thuong's parents considered selling their cow—their only asset—to raise money for their daughter-in-law's hospital stay.

Fortunately for Mr. Thuong's family, and deeply moving for him, was the kindness of the doctors at the Provincial General Hospital and the many family members of patients there. Despite not having enough money to pay the hospital fees, the hospital still provided the best possible emergency treatment for Ms. Danh, guided Mr. Thuong through all the admission procedures, and subsequently arranged for her transfer to another hospital.

Lacking money for food, Mr. Thuong received free meals at the hospital cafeteria. Many patients and their families, knowing his situation, also pitched in to help, sometimes with meals, sometimes with phone cards. Mr. Thuong said emotionally, "I'm so grateful for the help from the hospital and everyone... Now my biggest worry is whether my wife will make it! We didn't even bring a single penny with us when we went to Hanoi for treatment."

On the morning of April 24th, before getting into the ambulance with his wife to go to the National Burn Institute (Hanoi), Mr. Thuong broke down in tears, feeling both sorrow for his wife and worry about the cost of her treatment and the care of his two young children who were relying on their grandparents in their poor village. Those present at the Provincial General Hospital at that time pooled together about 1 million dong to support him.

At 4:30 PM on April 24th, when we contacted Mr. Thuong by phone, we learned that he had used up all the money we brought to pay for hospital fees and was unsure how he would manage to live there for the next few days. He said he was only praying for a miracle so his wife could survive and stay with him and their children.

Mr. Thuong's family desperately needs the community's support to overcome this tragedy. It is known that, in addition to some individuals who helped Mr. Thuong with money to travel to Hanoi, the Ky Son District People's Committee promptly visited his home to offer condolences and provided the family with 3 million VND in assistance. The district also provided 1 million VND each to the two victims who suffered burns while rescuing Ms. Danh. These two victims, who reportedly suffered first to third-degree burns with a high risk of infection, are currently receiving treatment at Ky Son District Hospital.

Thu Huong - Thuy Vinh