The misery of a man hired to haul acacia wood.

Nearly 20 days after brain surgery, Bui Van Lam, from Hamlet 4, Thanh Tung Commune, Thanh Chuong District, Nghe An Province, is still not fully conscious. Lam is the victim of a workplace accident that has left many residents of Thanh Tung Commune in shock.

That day, November 9th, like any other day, Mr. Lam and some other villagers were hired to load acacia wood. His job was to stand on the truck and arrange the wood. When the crane lifted the wood onto the truck, the cable suddenly snapped, striking Mr. Lam and causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious.

Relatives rushed Mr. Lam to the Nghe An Provincial Friendship General Hospital for emergency treatment. There, he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and required emergency surgery.

The four-hour surgery saved Lam's life, but a piece of his cerebral cortex had to be cultured and will be grafted back in once it stabilizes.

The first time she left her hometown for the city was also the time she took her husband to the emergency room. Sitting outside the operating room, Nguyen Thi Binh stared blankly at the operating room door.

Ms. Binh said that she and her husband are both very poor. After getting married, they lived separately in a shack on the edge of the village. Her husband, Mr. Lam, has had a disability since childhood, with poor communication skills, a speech impediment, and poor health, making life even more difficult for the family. They have two children; their eldest son is in 10th grade, and their daughter is in 9th grade.

Despite his poor health, Mr. Lam is very hardworking. He is kind and honest by nature, and he does whatever work he can find. During the acacia wood loading season, he earns about 300,000 dong per day. This meager amount is almost the sole source of income for his entire family, as his wife, Ms. Binh, also has poor health.

When her husband suffered a work accident, Ms. Binh ran around everywhere, borrowing 13 million VND to take to the hospital. Because he didn't have health insurance, Mr. Lam's treatment costs were very high. That money quickly ran out, and Ms. Binh rushed back to her hometown to borrow more money to pay for her husband's treatment...

Traveling back and forth alone between Vinh city and her hometown to care for her husband and children, the already frail and weak woman became even more haggard and desperate. “My family is suffering so much. I just hope my husband recovers quickly so he can come home soon. He’s been in the hospital for so long, we don’t know where we’ll get the money for his treatment,” the woman, with a weary face, said, looking at her husband lying in the hospital bed, her voice trembling with emotion.

Mr. Phan Van Dung, Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh Tung commune, Thanh Chuong district, said: "Mr. Lam and Ms. Binh are in very difficult circumstances. Their family doesn't have health insurance, so Mr. Lam's work accident has made their situation even more dire. After emergency surgery, Mr. Binh will also need brain reconstruction surgery. More than ever, Mr. Lam's family needs the support of the community and philanthropists to overcome this difficulty as soon as possible."