Poor mother painfully sees her child with congenital heart disease

(Baonghean) - Being a single mother, raising a 2-year-old son with congenital heart disease with a heavy burden of debt on her shoulders. That is the pitiful situation of Ms. Trinh Thi Nga (born in 1977), in Quynh Chau commune, Quynh Luu district.

We went to Hamlet 4, Quynh Chau Commune (Quynh Luu), Ms. Nga's house is small and compact, located in the middle of the hamlet, with tiled floors, a collapsed roof, but is "burdened" with a debt of over 100 million VND. In the house, there are 3 people, Ms. Nga, her father, Mr. Trinh Van Du (born in 1924) and her 2-year-old son, Trinh Le Tri Nhan.

Ms. Tran Thi Nga's child has congenital heart disease and has to go to the hospital regularly. Photo: Ha Linh

Ms. Tran Thi Xuyen - a commune policy officer shared: Ms. Nga's situation is very pitiful, she got married at an old age, she became the concubine of a man with many children, poor, because life was too miserable to bear, so she had to divorce. She accepted being a single mother, but her young son was constantly sick, had to go to the hospital regularly for treatment, so now she is in debt...

The house was previously built by herself with lime, plaster, bamboo and rattan frames, and over time, it was eaten by termites and almost collapsed. Her father saw that his daughter was poor and had no home. He had a few tens of millions of dong left by his wife when she passed away, so he gave it to her to repair the house. As for Nga, when she found out she was pregnant, she was very happy. She decided to borrow more money to build a house with the little money her father gave her. The house was just finished, the debt had not been paid off yet, then her son was born. The joy was short-lived, before her child could grow up, she discovered that her child often had difficulty breathing, had poor appetite, and was weak... She borrowed money again to take her child to the hospital. When the hospital concluded that her child had a very severe mitral valve regurgitation and needed immediate surgery, she was stunned.

At Hue Central Hospital, after paying all the surgery fees, she had no money left to eat or buy medicine for her child. The philanthropists at the temple donated money to help her buy medicine for her child, which cost nearly 10 million VND. The doctor scheduled her child for a check-up every two months, but because she had no money, more than a year after the surgery, she was only able to take her child for a check-up once (each trip, return trip, and medicine cost more than 10 million VND).

Every time her child had a seizure and turned purple, she took her child to Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital or Nghe An Northwestern Hospital for emergency treatment because it was close and saved on travel costs. However, the doctor said that if she took her child for regular check-ups and took the full course of medication, she would be able to control the recurrence of the disease.

Her income only depends on one sao of contracted rice field. In good harvest years, she has enough rice to eat, but in bad harvest years, she has to worry about finding rice. Besides farming, she only works for hire, doing whatever job anyone calls her to do, but her income is not worth much. Every month, it is only enough to pay the interest on the debt, but the principal has not been paid yet.

Ms. Nga's old father has to look after his grandchild every day so his daughter can go to work to earn a living. Photo by Ha Linh

Mr. Du, the grandchild's grandfather, shared: "I have 8 children, although they are all farmers and their lives are still poor, none of them are as pitiful as Nga". His wife passed away a long time ago, his children all want their father to come back to them to live in peace, but because he loves Nga, he stays with them to encourage them. Every day, he helps Nga take care of her grandchildren so that she can work in the fields and weed rice, earning about 100,000 VND a day to have money to treat her daughter. His allowance is 270,000 VND/month and the little money his children give him for pocket money, he also saves to help his daughter. Loving his children and grandchildren so much, Mr. Trinh Van Du wishes: If only there were some miracle that could help his grandchild survive.

Any help for Ms. Nga and her children, please send to: Trinh Thi Nga, Hamlet 4, Quynh Chau Commune (Quynh Luu); Phone number: 1067.3343.776

Or: Distribution - QC - Social Activities Department, Nghe An Newspaper, No. 3 Le Nin Avenue, Hung Phuc Ward, Vinh City, Nghe An.

Ha Linh