Nearly 80 years old mother raising mentally ill child and orphaned grandchild

(Baonghean.vn) - Although she is nearly 80 years old, every day Mrs. Nguyen Thi Luong in block 16, Mai Hung ward (Hoang Mai town) still has to take care of each vegetable to earn money to raise her mentally ill son and her niece who lost her mother at birth.

We visited Mrs. Luong’s family one afternoon. The small house was far from the residential area, old and dilapidated. Mr. Tran Dang Chung (1976) – Mrs. Luong’s son was sitting absent-mindedly on the doorstep, his eyes staring blankly into the distance. There was nothing valuable in the house except for an old table and chairs left over from the old days.

At nearly 80 years old, Ms. Luong still has to take care of each vegetable to bring to the market to sell to earn money to support her mentally ill son and her motherless grandson.

Mrs. Luong gave birth to five children, Chung being the youngest son. Her husband died early, so she had to raise her children alone. Misfortune continued to strike her family when her eldest daughter and second son suddenly became mentally ill and died.

It seemed that his misfortune ended there, but in 1996, while he was doing military service, Chung suddenly became ill like his brothers and sisters and was sent home by his unit. His family took him to the Central Psychiatric Hospital for examination, and the doctor concluded that he had schizophrenia and required long-term treatment. Due to poverty and not being able to afford to stay in the hospital, his family bought medicine and took him home to treat himself.

Having schizophrenia, Chung's illness has gotten worse since his wife passed away.

When his illness subsided, Chung fell in love with Le Thi Tinh from the neighboring commune and they got married. In 2008, Tran Thi Phuong was born, bringing boundless happiness to the young couple. The couple worked hard to build a home. Phuong was just over 1 year old when the couple welcomed another joy when Tinh became pregnant with their second son. But once again, misfortune struck the family when a train accident took the lives of Tinh and her unborn child.

The pain caused Mr. Chung to relapse, he kept talking nonsense and could no longer do anything. Every month, the cost of buying medicine for Mr. Chung was up to 2 million VND, if he stopped taking the medicine for just 2 days, he would go crazy, smash things, and lose control of his behavior.

Phuong lost her mother early and could only rely on her old and weak grandmother.

All the burdens fell on the old mother's shoulders. Feeling sorry for her sick child and her young grandchild who had become an orphan, Mrs. Luong tried to work hard in the fields with a few acres of rice fields but it was still not enough to feed three mouths. Her two remaining children were also in difficult circumstances so they could not help much.

At nearly 80 years old, Mrs. Luong still has to dig the land to grow vegetables to sell at the market. Due to her old age and weak health, there are days when she cannot even stand up. The fields are not strong enough to plant and harvest, and there is no money to hire workers, so she has to leave them unused. All expenses depend on the small allowance from her orphaned grandchild.

Mr. Le Van My - Vice Chairman of Mai Hung Ward People's Committee said: Mrs. Luong's family is one of the poorest households in Mai Hung Ward. Although the local authorities have created conditions to exempt them from contributions, they still have to pay for Chung's medicine every day, while Mrs. Luong is old and weak, and Phuong is still in school age, so they really hope to receive the attention and help of kind-hearted people to help the family reduce their difficulties.

Thanh Thuy