Disabled man takes care of old mother and mentally ill younger brother

(Baonghean.vn)- Abandoned by his father at birth and disabled, for the past 38 years, this Thai man has been resilient in living and working to support his elderly mother and his mentally ill younger brother.

Khe Han village (Chau Hanh, Quy Chau) is still very poor, people have to live on a small area of ​​upland rice and trips to the forest. The life of a normal person is inherently extremely difficult, so the story of Mr. Luong Van Luong, a disabled person who works hard to earn a living to support his sick old mother and mentally ill younger brother, has made the people here extremely respectful.

Mr. Luong Van Luong cannot move like a normal person. Photo: Nga Nga.

Mr. Luong was born in 1979, the time he came into this world was also the time his biological father abandoned his mother and son. His mother struggled to make ends meet by herself. But then, as a joke of fate, Luong's legs were healthy but he could not walk like other normal children.

Little Luong spent his childhood crawling around the house on his hands, completely isolated from the outside world. The muscle cramps in his legs every time the weather changed caused him even more pain.

It was not until he was 12 that his life began to take a new turn, filled with true happiness and love. That was when his mother remarried a kind man in the area. Feeling sorry for his fate, his stepfather seemed to want to make up for the emotional deprivation he had experienced.

Every day, he encouraged and helped him practice his first steps. After 2 years of continuous efforts, the miracle came when he could walk on his own two feet. Although he could not stand up straight or walk steadily like other people, it still helped him to contact the outside world and to do small chores around the house to help his mother and father. Together with his mother's younger brother and stepfather, he had a small, warm and happy family.

The "house" where Mr. Luong Van Luong and his three children live. Photo: Thanh Quynh

However, when he was 15 years old, his stepfather died of a serious illness. Without their spiritual support, his family's life was lacking in every way and continued to be stuck in poverty. For many years, they were among the most disadvantaged in the village.

But misfortunes have not stopped falling on that small family when his younger brother, in a serious accident in 2015, suffered a severe brain injury. Now, he is almost mentally ill, sometimes conscious, sometimes unconscious, and his health is declining. Luong's mother is getting older and weaker due to the burden of life.

Loving his mother and younger siblings, Luong tried to do some extra housework, crawled to the field to cut grass for the buffaloes...

In 2015, the district gave him a wheelchair so he could move around better. Since then, he told his mother that he would use the wheelchair to go to the market to sell the vegetables and snails that she found in the forest or in the streams.

The distance from his house to the market, which is more than 5km, is really far and difficult for him. To be on time for the market, he has to wake up at 5am and slowly turn each wheel of his wheelchair, and he puts his goods in a basket, tied to the front part of his leg.

On fast days, it takes him 3 hours to get to the market, but on days when he is tired or it rains, it can take nearly 4 hours. There are some difficult, bumpy dirt roads where he has to park his bike on the highway and ask someone to take him there.

Mr. Luong prepares for tomorrow's market. It could be banana bunches and wild vegetables that he finds. Photo: Nga Nga.

Knowing his situation, many people also joined in to buy for him. So each trip to the market, he sold 30,000 to 40,000 VND. That amount of money may be small for many people, but it was a huge asset for his family. It was not only a daily meal, but also the money he had saved up to prepare for the unexpected when the three people in the family had no one to rely on.

Speaking about himself, Mr. Luong still feels lucky to be able to live and work. What he fears is that when he can no longer work, who will take care of his elderly mother and sick younger brother?

T. Quynh - N. Nga