The pain of parents wanting to donate a kidney to save their child but not having enough money for surgery

(Baonghean.vn) -My little sonNguyen Thi Luu (born in 1972) and her husband in Xuan Quynh hamlet, Thanh Xuan commune, Thanh Chuong district, have end-stage chronic kidney failure. The parents are willing to donate a kidney to their child, but they cannot find the money for surgery.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Luu with her seriously ill child.

Although life is only about a few fields, Nguyen Thi Luu and her husband have 5 children. In this poor countryside, with the concept of having a son to continue the family line, even though they already have 4 daughters, they still try to have more. When their son was born on January 1, 2011, the couple named him Tran Hung Phuc, meaning the family is blessed to have a son as desired.

Phuc was born in poor health, often coughing. In 2015, he was diagnosed with malnutrition and the hospital required him to be hospitalized for treatment. But after the test results came back, it turned out that he had chronic kidney failure. Starting from March 2015, the couple had to take turns leaving all housework to take Phuc to the National Children's Hospital for kidney treatment for months.

In July 2016, Phuc was diagnosed with complete kidney failure and had to undergo surgery to implant a dialysis catheter through the peritoneum, but due to a blockage in the drainage tube, he had to undergo another surgery. In October 2016, after 7 surgeries, Phuc's drainage tube was stable. The first surgery for a patient under 6 years old cost 12 million VND, the next 6 surgeries each cost 5 million VND, not including the cost of medicine and the cost of his parents' food and accommodation at the hospital.

Since then, Phuc has been receiving regular peritoneal dialysis. Every day, 8kg of fluid is infused into each bag, 0.5kg of fluid is added to soak in the abdomen for 1.5 hours, then discharged, 24 hours a day of soaking and draining fluid, only resting for about 30 minutes to eat lunch and dinner.

Just like that, the father and mother had to take turns staying on duty to look after and change Phuc's IV fluid. Every day, when changing the IV fluid for their child, Ms. Luu and Mr. Lan felt as if their hearts were being torn apart. At his age, he should have been playing, running, studying with his friends, but for the whole year, the same month, he was stuck in bed with medicine, the same hospital, the smell of alcohol, bandages...

In addition, he must limit contact with other people to ensure sterility. The hospital requires the family to reserve a separate, medically sterilized room for Phuc, limiting people coming in and out to ensure sterility during Phuc's kidney dialysis process.

Day after day, month after month, the couple tearfully took their child to Hanoi. If they were lucky, they could return home in 3 days, if they were not, they had to stay in the hospital for 2 weeks.

Every month, Phuc spends 5 million on medicine but his illness still does not go away.

Phuc was sick, in addition to the 50 million VND loan from the Policy Bank for expenses, in the emergency, all relatives lent money, causing the family to fall into debt without thinking about where to get the money to pay. Now, in addition to the monthly travel expenses, each month we have to spend 5 million VND on medicine and injections for Phuc.

The other problem is that the parents have to take turns taking care of Phuc while the family has 7 mouths to feed. Thanh Xuan land in the lowlands can only produce one crop a year, if well fertilized, it will yield 400 kg of rice, enough for only 3 months of food. The family has 3 sao of tea, during the drought season, they harvest it once every 2 months and sell it for 1.5 million.

In the family of 4 daughters, the fourth daughter, Tran Thi Tu Anh, also had rheumatic heart disease and was treated at Cua Dong General Hospital for 3 months.

Confiding in us, Ms. Luu and her husband both wanted to donate their kidneys to save their son, but were helpless when the doctor told them that in order to donate a kidney, they would have to undergo testing for 3 months with a fee of about 75 million VND and the cost of surgery, if compatible, would be about 500 million VND.

Mr. Nguyen Khanh Thanh - Chairman of Thanh Xuan Commune People's Committee said: The current situation of Lan and Luu's family can be said to be destitute. We only hope that there is an organization, agency, or business that can support the parents to donate a kidney and have kidney transplant surgery so that the child can live as a normal person.

The daily hardships of life and the pain of their sick child have made them feel hopeless at times. But deep down, they still hope that a miracle will happen and their child will be able to undergo surgery. The family desperately needs the help of the community to save their son.

Please send any help to:The couple Tran Hung Lan - Nguyen Thi Luu in Xuan Quynh hamlet, Thanh Xuan commune, Thanh Chuong district, phone number: 0166.4639.522, 0913.274.064 or the Distribution - Social Activities Department of Nghe An Newspaper, No. 3 Le Nin Avenue, Hung Phuc ward, Vinh city, Nghe An./.

Dam Phuong