Want to donate kidney to save child but helpless because too poor

(Baonghean.vn) - "I can die but I just hope that she can stay in this world" - Ms. Pham Thi Loan (born in 1979, residing in Hamlet 1, Nghi Cong Nam Commune, Nghi Loc District) shared in tears when talking about her only child, Ngoc Tram (11 years old), who has undergone 7 surgeries, but her life is still very fragile.

For the sake of her child's life, the mother decided to donate her kidney to her child, but the cost of the surgery was too great for her family to afford.

“My child’s health is very weak now, if he doesn’t get a kidney transplant, then I’ll probably… I only have this one child, if something happens to him, I don’t know how to live for the rest of my life. I can give him both of my kidneys, even if I have to die. He’s still too young to know anything…”, Ms. Loan choked up in her mixed feelings.

On the family’s old bed, Ngoc Tram was lying curled up, her face paler than before. Her hands trembled as she reached out to us, her eyes filled with tears as she looked up as if she was yearning. Despite having undergone two more surgeries, her condition had not improved, and had even become more complicated than before.

Ngoc Tram's health is getting worse.

Looking at her child, Ms. Loan choked up: “After receiving help from benefactors, I ran around to borrow some more money to continue taking her to the hospital for two more surgeries, but her condition was too severe to be cured. The doctors said that now she might need a kidney transplant, but…”, the poor mother stopped, holding her daughter’s hands tightly.

Since childhood, Ngoc Tram has been sick often, she often has pain in both hips and high fever, and wets the bed, so Ms. Loan hurriedly took her child to Nghi Loc District Hospital for examination. Here, the doctors said that she may have kidney failure syndrome, then referred her to Nghe An Children's Hospital. After examination, the doctor concluded that Ngoc Tram's right kidney was atrophied and had no function, the left kidney had renal pelvis dilatation, hydronephrosis grade 3 in both ureters and cystitis, which needed to be treated and surgically cured.

Loving her child, the poor mother ran around borrowing money everywhere hoping to save her little daughter's life. The mother and daughter traveled to all the big and small hospitals in the country to hold on to their daughter's life. All the family's assets were gone, the amount of money borrowed to treat her child was so much that Loan no longer thought she could afford it. In addition to taking care of her sick daughter, Loan also had to support her elderly mother who was nearly 80 years old.

The father had the heart to abandon Loan and her child when she was still very young, leaving her to raise her child alone. For the poor mother, she only had this one child, it was her reason for living, her whole future, the joy every morning when she woke up when she saw it, the motivation for her to overcome the hardships of daily work, the hope for her to continue trying in a life of many hardships...

Only a kidney transplant can save Ngoc Tram's life.

From birth until now, Ngoc Tram has had to undergo a total of 7 surgeries, 7 times she had to go to the operating table, 7 times the mother held her breath, 7 times she measured every minute, waited every second to wait for the doctor's answer. But her child's condition still has not improved. Most recently, because her right kidney was failing and atrophied, Ngoc Tram had to have surgery to remove it. At the same time, doctors had to operate on her small intestine to increase the capacity of her bladder because she had bilateral ureteral reflux. Doctors said that if she wanted to continue living, she would need a kidney transplant. To save her child, Ms. Loan decided to donate her kidney to her child, but the cost of this surgery was too high.

“The doctors said that if I took my kidney and transplanted it to my child, it would cost about 500 million VND. Where can my family get such a large sum of money? If I don’t get a kidney transplant, my child will…”, the mother was silent as she thought of the worst scenario.

Application for confirmation of Loan's family circumstances.

The family's income only depends on 2 sao of rice fields and Ms. Loan's days of working for hire. Loving her child, she tries to work hard regardless of the hardships and fatigue, doing whatever people hire her to do. She only hopes to have money to buy medicine to treat her child, because if she stops taking the medicine, her child's life could be in danger.

Ngoc Tram cannot control her bowel movements, so every day Loan has to use a catheter to drain her child's urine. Each catheter costs nearly 10,000 VND. The doctor prescribed that each catheter can only be used once, but because the family's circumstances are so difficult, Loan often uses each catheter up to 5 times. To ensure safety, she often boils these catheters in boiling water and reuses them for her child, even though she knows this can affect her child's health./.

Ngo Phan