Stories picked up at the Emergency Resuscitation Department, Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital

Nearly 5 years of Doanh's illness has been a battle for him, his family and the doctors and nurses of the Emergency Resuscitation Department, Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital.

Simple wishes of a small family

In the space filled with the constant sound of the monitor at the Emergency Resuscitation Department, Mr. Lo Van Hai, Xuan Le commune (Thuong Xuan) massaged his son's limbs and gently wiped his body with a towel. During the first days of being hospitalized with his son, Mr. Hai consoled himself, hoping for one more day and he would soon be able to go home. Yet, in the blink of an eye, nearly 5 years have passed, and he is still here, in this room, next to his little son.

On the hospital bed, little Lo Cong Doanh lay motionless, eyes half-closed, his trachea opened to insert a breathing tube, a tube placed in his nose to help deliver nutrients to his body. The 5-year-old boy had a white, chubby body but his breathing was heavy, and the little strength to cry was really difficult. "Looking at my child, I felt like my heart was broken into pieces," Mr. Hai began the story.

In 2020, the couple welcomed their first son. Doanh, like any other child, ate well and slept well. However, by the 5th month, the child still refused to turn over and had weak legs. At 7 months old, Doanh stopped breastfeeding and had a high fever for many days without going down... The couple took their child to Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital for examination. After nearly a year of inpatient treatment at the hospital, the child's fever kept going down, down, and down, and he often had convulsions. After a series of paraclinical tests, the doctors said that Lo Cong Doanh had spinal muscular atrophy. They loved their child and hoped that the disease would be detected early and treated promptly, and that one day the child would recover, but even though the couple took care of the child every day, the child's health continued to deteriorate. When the child was 2 years old, he had to be hospitalized full-time because he could not breathe on his own and had to rely completely on a ventilator.

According to Dr. CKII La Xuan Trong, Deputy Head of the Department of Emergency Resuscitation, Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital, spinal muscular atrophy is a genetic disease that directly affects the central nervous system, peripheral nerves and motor function of the patient. When a person has spinal muscular atrophy, nerve cells located inside the brain and spinal cord do not function. The brain will stop sending information about gestures and actions to the muscles, so the muscles become weak and contract, causing the patient to have difficulty in moving, walking, holding, grasping... This is also a disease that leads to early death in newborns.

As a freelance worker, Mr. Hai is responsible for taking care of his son. Almost 24/7, he is by his son's bedside, suctioning his son's phlegm every hour; feeding him through a feeding tube; taking care of his personal hygiene... Day after day like that, he only occasionally takes a nap when his son is asleep. Mr. Hai's wife - Ms. Lu Thi Son is currently working at Xuan Le Primary School, and only comes down on weekends to look after the child so her husband can come home to bathe and take care of his personal hygiene... Just like that, for nearly 5 years, the small family has not had a single day together.

Stories picked up at the Emergency Resuscitation Department, Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital

Suffering from spinal muscular atrophy, Lo Van Hai and his son Lo Cong Doanh have been in the hospital for nearly 5 years.

One of the main causes of spinal cord atrophy is genetic, Dr. La Xuan Trong advises that if a couple wants to have more children, they should go to the Reproductive Support Center in combination with genetic diagnostic tests to have a specific direction, avoiding natural birth with a high risk of having a sick child. Mr. Hai and his wife had hoped that the worst situation would not happen, but the miracle did not happen. Therefore, at the end of 2024, Mr. Hai and his wife decided to adopt a child. "The daughter is still young, my wife both works and takes care of the child, so she does not go to the hospital as often as before. The daughter has been home for nearly half a year, but the two Doanh brothers have not met each other. It has been a long time since my family had a proper meal or a good night's sleep," Mr. Hai choked up.

Let's pray for miracles

While chatting, a loud noise suddenly came from the other side of the treatment room. A team of doctors and nurses were rushing to give emergency treatment to a child with severe pneumonia. A doctor pressed his hands firmly on the child's chest, muttering, "Come on!"... "Come on!". The working atmosphere was so fast it was suffocating, it seemed that if he was even one minute slower, the child's life would not be saved. "I've been in the department for so long that I've gotten used to this scene. There are children who come in fresh in the morning, but are dead by the afternoon. Here, the line between life and death is very thin, frighteningly thin," Mr. Hai exclaimed.

The Emergency Department concentrates on the most seriously ill children in the hospital, and does not allow family members to visit. His son's treatment room is the only one with relatives taking care of him 24/7. In nearly 5 years there, Mr. Hai has witnessed many things. He saw the sleepless nights of doctors and nurses taking care of patients; he saw the head of the department visiting patients every day and encouraging patients and their families to try and maintain their health while he himself was exhausted from hunger and fatigue... Mr. Hai confided that he did not think that the work of doctors and nurses was so intense and difficult. He also could not imagine where they got the energy to work, the spirit to witness and overcome all the losses in this hospital room.

Stories picked up at the Emergency Resuscitation Department, Thanh Hoa Children's Hospital

Spinal muscular atrophy makes Doanh's limbs limp and unable to move.

The other day, head nurse Tran Thi Hue told Mr. Hai the story of a child who suffocated, then fell into a state of severe acute respiratory failure, lying unconscious on a ventilator for several months, just as the family was about to sign the release form, the patient woke up. When discharged from the hospital, the patient's parents came to hold hands, asking to accept the treating doctor as their adoptive father. Mr. Hai smiled, feeling a little more hopeful.

Every day, a story, the doctors and nurses whisper and sow such hope in the hearts of patients and their families. Small! But it is a light that has never been extinguished, it is what nourishes and motivates both the doctors and nurses of the Emergency Department and seriously ill patients like Mr. Hai's son to fight together until the last moment.

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