Run away from wife to 'donate' kidney for 100 million to change life

Hearing an acquaintance suggest donating a kidney would earn him a lot of money, Mr. Lang struggled mentally for two weeks and decided to cut off a part of his body to save his family from debt.

On April 8, in a thatched house with open front and back walls located next to a concrete road in Hamlet 7, Thanh Phu Commune (Co Do District, Can Tho City), Danh Lang, also known as Lam (32 years old) lay grimacing because of a dull back pain. The left side of his abdomen showed signs of instability in the area where he had a kidney "donated" to a stranger in Ho Chi Minh City more than 2 years ago.

Mr. Lang said that after 2 weeks of thinking, he decided to "donate" his kidney to a man he did not know to get 100 million VND to pay off his debt because he was so poor. Photo: Ai Nam.

Being from a poor family, 9 years ago he married Sang when both of them had nothing. He thought that borrowing money to get married would help him pay it back sooner thanks to his diligence in finding a job, but after their two children were born, Lang and his wife owed their neighbors nearly 50 million VND and could not pay it back.

After half a year of taking his wife and children to Binh Duong to work for a cashew processing facility, he came home late one day and coincidentally met an acquaintance from the same hometown, Mr. Phu Anh (over 40 years old). While asking about each other's work, Mr. Lang honestly told the story of his debt. Like fire meeting a dry branch, Mr. Anh immediately invited his neighbor's younger brother to "save people" to be rewarded with 100 million VND.

"Mr. Anh said he had donated a kidney to China without any health problems. When I got home, I told my wife, but she refused because she was afraid it would affect her health. For half a month, I struggled mentally and then decided to accept Mr. Anh's offer by lying to my wife that the cashew facility was out of stock and I had to go to Ho Chi Minh City to find a new job," said Mr. Lang, adding that he followed Mr. Anh to District 5, Ho Chi Minh City alone to meet a young man about 35 years old, from Tay Ninh.

When meeting this person, Mr. Lang was asked to show his ID card and household registration book. After that, he was taken to a hospital that he did not know which hospital in Ho Chi Minh City for a general examination and blood and urine tests. Leaving the hospital with a health notice that guaranteed kidney donation, this young man rented him a room to stay alone and gave him a few million VND with instructions to take care of his health, eat and drink in moderation, not drink alcohol, and wait for the surgery day.

"Two weeks later, that young man came to take me to the hospital. After being put into anesthesia, about three hours later, I woke up and found out that my kidney had been removed because I had a dull pain in my left abdomen," Mr. Lang recalled.

During more than a week of recuperation, Mr. Lang was taken care of by a woman whose name is unknown. Before his discharge from the hospital, the young man believed to be the "kidney donation" broker directly gave Mr. Lang 100 million VND.

"As soon as he received the money, Mr. Anh took 5 million, borrowed another 15 million, but has not paid it all back yet and lives separately in Ho Chi Minh City. The person who donated a kidney with me and was paid 100 million VND by the young man from Tay Ninh was a 26-year-old man named Thanh, from An Giang. He told me that after the test, he would have to wait a year for a suitable person to transplant the kidney. Now that I know it will affect my health, I regret it very much," Mr. Lang added.

Holding 80 million VND and returning to his hometown with his wife and children, from a healthy young man, Mr. Lang did not dare to do heavy work for nearly a year. After paying off the debt of 50 million VND, he had little money left to invest in a herd of more than 10 pigs. He thought he would escape poverty this time, but the pigs were sold at the right time when the price dropped, causing this poor family to continue to be in debt due to capital loss. The couple had a third child, the husband had to go to the fields to carry rice and fertilize for hire with a salary of 50,000 VND per day. In recent days, Mr. Lang has become sick and cannot go to the fields so he has to stay home to take care of the children. The wife, who goes to dry rice for hire, only earns 40,000 VND per day.

Sharing the same poverty, Ho Van Tranh in Hamlet 6, Thanh Phu Commune agreed to have a kidney removed, supposedly to be transplanted to a police captain in Ho Chi Minh City. According to Tranh, the kidney recipient was the benefactor who helped him find a job as a construction worker during his days of earning a living in Saigon. Before the kidney transplant, both parties went to a notary office to sign a commitment not to complain later and Tranh received 120 million VND after the surgery more than 3 months ago.

According to Mr. Tranh, the incision has healed but the pain inside still makes it difficult for him to move around. With the money he received, he paid off his debt of more than 100 million VND, and with the remaining money, he returned to his hometown to build a small house by the roadside, on the land his sister had just given him.

"When I needed money, I took a risk. Now I regret it so much when I realize that I have become a dependent on my wife because I can't do anything. This morning, I picked up a hammer to hammer a nail but couldn't because my hands were shaking and my stomach was aching. If I had known this would happen, even if you gave me billions, I wouldn't have donated my kidney," Tranh shared.

After paying off all his debts, Tranh had some money left to go back to his hometown and build a small house on the land his sister gave him. Photo: Ai Nam.

Speaking to VnExpress, Mr. Vo Hai Trieu, Secretary and Chairman of Thanh Phu Commune, said that the commune is far from the center of Can Tho City and borders Kien Giang Province. This place used to be Co Do Farm, now Co Do Agricultural One Member Co., Ltd. The lives of local people are not difficult, but 5 people in 3 hamlets have donated kidneys and the authorities only found out 3 months ago. In addition to Mr. Tranh and Mr. Lang, there was a person named Gioi who came to the commune to complete the kidney donation procedure but the authorities did not confirm because they did not know who the kidney recipient was. This young man is currently not present in the locality.

"The law does not prohibit people from donating kidneys, and kidney donors have met with brokers and kidney recipients in Ho Chi Minh City, so it is difficult for the local authorities to detect and find ways to advise and prevent it. Since discovering many kidney donors, the local authorities have been actively propagating throughout the hamlets to raise people's awareness," said Mr. Trieu.

Recently, on April 5, in a report sent to the Director of Can Tho City Police, Co Do District Police said that they had investigated and identified 8 cases of kidney donation to receive 120 million VND each. Notably, 5 people in one family donated kidneys.

According to the provisions of the Law on Donation, Collection and Transplantation of Human Tissues and Organs and Donation and Collection of Cadavers, "citizens aged 18 and over with full civil capacity have the right to donate their tissues and organs. The Penal Code does not prescribe any crime related to this. With the 8 identified cases of kidney donation, they made records and procedures for voluntary kidney donation, so they did not violate the law.

"The police have not discovered any cases of kidney sales for commission or related to foreign organizations. However, losing a kidney leaves one with poor health and no longer able to work. The police and local authorities are actively propagating and raising awareness among the people," said the head of the Co Do District Police.

According to vnexrpess