A cry for help from the 'cancer village' in Tan Ky

Bankrupt because of cancer

For the past few months, the small house leaning against the mountain of Mr. Pham Van Linh (43 years old), Nghia Phuc commune, Tan Ky, has been deserted. No one is looking after the house, weeds are growing all over the entrance. There is no valuable property left in the house. Mr. Linh's wife, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha (38 years old), is one of the 7 patients.have cancerin Hong Ky hamlet is still under treatment.

Mr. Linh said that more than a year ago, his wife went to the hospital in Vinh City to take care of her sister who had thyroid cancer. While going for a health check, the whole family was shocked when the results showed that she also had thyroid cancer that had metastasized. "The doctor even concluded that my wife had the disease before her sister," Mr. Linh said.

Since then, Ms. Ha has had to go to the hospital for treatment. To cover the cost of travel and treatment, all the valuable assets in the house have also been "gone".

Mr. Linh's house has been empty for many months. Photo: Tien Hung

In this poor mountain village, like other households, Linh's family is not well off. All year round, they only rely on a few acres of corn and cassava fields. During the off-season, the couple works as "handymen". They do whatever they can find. But since his wife got sick, Linh has had to continuously take her more than 100km to Vinh for treatment. The cost of travel and medical treatment has left his family broke.

When there was no more money to borrow from, and he didn't know what to do at home to make money, for the past six months, Mr. Linh decided to move his whole family to Vinh City, renting a small room near the hospital for his wife's convenience in receiving treatment.

To have money for hospital fees and to make ends meet, Mr. Linh is currently working as a security guard for a company. As for Ms. Ha, taking advantage of the days when she is not being treated at the hospital, she also applies for a job as a cook for this company…

Not far from Mr. Linh's house is the dilapidated house of Ms. Thai Thi Ly (48 years old), who is also very worried because the large lymph node in her neck has not yet been diagnosed by doctors. Ms. Ly said that this lymph node appeared about 3 years ago, moving throughout her body, causing her discomfort and pain. "The doctor suspects that this lymph node has metastasized due to cancer. Since my husband passed away, I have been so worried and tired that I just let fate take its course and do not want to go to the doctor anymore. If God decides to kill me, I will have to accept it. I only feel sorry for my 3 children, only one of whom is married," Ms. Ly said.

Hong Ky village is sad after consecutive deaths from cancer. Photo: Tien Hung

Last year, Ly's husband, Tran Van Nam, took his wife to Nghe An Oncology Hospital for a check-up. Seeing that his body was also tired, Nam also bought a check-up ticket and was shocked when the doctor informed him that he had terminal liver cancer. Just a few months later, he passed away at the age of 46. Seeing that her son had died, Nam's mother was worried and asked her children and grandchildren to take her to Vinh City for a check-up. She was later diagnosed with liver cancer. Three months after her son's death, she passed away from the same disease.

People cry for help

Hong Ky hamlet is located about 2km from the center of Nghia Phuc commune. The small hamlet is nestled in a large valley, surrounded by small mountain ranges. In 1974, 25 households in Hong Long commune (Nam Dan district) moved to Tan Ky to do business. They decided to choose this fertile land as their place to settle down.

Hong Ky Hamlet was born from that time. After 46 years, Hong Ky now has 155 households, however, that is only on paper. In reality, in recent years, many households have had to move to other places because they are too afraid of the "tornado" of cancer. In some cases, after their husbands died, they had to leave their children with their grandparents and go to the city to make a living. Therefore, walking around the hamlet, it is not difficult to come across abandoned houses.

Recently, Hong Ky hamlet was merged with two other hamlets and renamed Hong Phuc. But that good name could not change the fate of the hamlet’s residents. Every few weeks, someone in the hamlet was diagnosed with cancer. “Almost every family in the hamlet has a relative with this disease. Even my mother-in-law has just been diagnosed with cancer and is still fighting it,” said Nguyen Van Minh, Party Secretary of Hong Ky hamlet. He added that some families, even 3-4 people in the same house, have cancer. Nguyen Canh Loi’s family is one of them.

Another house is also abandoned due to cancer. Photo: Tien Hung

Mr. Loi had cancer and died 3 years ago when he was only 34 years old. A few months later, his parents also passed away from lung cancer. After her husband died, life became difficult, Mr. Loi's wife sent her children to her husband's brother to take care of and went to the North to work as a laborer to make a living. Even at the end of Hong Ky hamlet, there is a residential area with only 9 houses next to each other. But in the past few years, 8 people have died from cancer, one is currently undergoing treatment.

Most of the cancer patients in Hong Ky died at a very young age. Mainly liver and lung cancer. “Three years ago, a very strong young man in the neighborhood accidentally went for a check-up and was diagnosed with cancer and died a few months later. He died before he was 25 years old, an only son, very pitiful. Not long after, a single woman living next door, only 28 years old, also got cancer and passed away, leaving behind a young child,” said Mr. Minh.

People believe that water sources are the cause of mass cancer outbreaks. Photo: Tien Hung

For many years as the head of Hong Ky hamlet, Mr. Minh has attended almost all the funerals in the hamlet. That is why, Mr. Minh said, no one can count the number of people with cancer more accurately than he can. According to Mr. Minh, in the past 20 years, more than 30 people in Hong Ky hamlet have died of cancer. And 7 people in the hamlet are still fighting this disease.

“That is just the statistics according to the doctor's conclusion. I suspect that number could be much higher. Because there are some people who, for many reasons, die without knowing they have cancer,” said Mr. Minh.

The Hong Ky hamlet is located along a small stream flowing from Quy Hop district. Meanwhile, the water source that people use is all wells dug along this stream. People suspect that the stream is polluted due to the mining of ore from upstream in Quy Hop district. In addition, people also have another opinion that this land is affected by tin or lead mines underground.

“Nearly 30 years ago, a geological team came to drill for exploration. They drilled a very deep hole right at the beginning of the residential area, where many people later had cancer. The team later said that there was tin or lead underneath, but it was too young to be exploited. After that, they never came back,” said Mr. Minh, adding that the people in the neighborhood were very sad because until now, no team of officials or scientists had come to Hong Ky to find out the reason why so many people in the neighborhood had cancer.

Discussing this issue, a leader of Nghia Phuc commune admitted that he had not reported to higher levels about the situation in Hong Ky hamlet. “The number of people with cancer in Hong Ky hamlet is so unusual that it makes people very confused and worried. We really hope that the provincial authorities will come to check and determine the cause of the disease because people are really worried,” he said.

Tien Hung