The mother abandoned her own cancer treatment to save her child's life.

In Ca Mau, upon receiving news that her daughter Thien An's liver cancer had relapsed and metastasized to her lungs in early 2023, Ms. Hanh stopped her thyroid cancer treatment to save her daughter.

For the past five years, Ms. Tran Thi My Hanh (43 years old), residing in Hamlet 2, Tri Phai Commune, Thoi Binh District, thought her life would return to normal once her daughter Nguyen Thien An's (13 years old) liver cancer was brought under control.

Her mother-in-law has been bedridden for many years, forcing her to stay home to take care of her. The family's finances depend on her husband's 6 million dong from his job as a construction worker; it's not a comfortable income, but she says that if they save enough, they can pay off debts and provide for their children's education.

In September 2022, feeling tired and having difficulty eating, Ms. Hanh went to the hospital for a check-up. Test results revealed she had thyroid cancer and ovarian cysts requiring urgent treatment.

Hoping her condition would improve so she could return home to care for her family, she borrowed money and underwent surgery at the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital. The doctor scheduled her to return in a few months for chemotherapy.

But before her mother's illness could be treated, near Tet (Lunar New Year) in 2023, little Thien An complained of abdominal pain and loss of appetite. At first, Ms. Hanh thought it was because her daughter had eaten something unusual, but a check-up revealed that her daughter's liver cancer from eight years prior had recurred and metastasized to her lungs. Holding the test results in her hand, the 43-year-old woman could barely stand, feeling the same pain and despair as when she first received the news of her daughter's illness.

"For the past five years, her health has been recovering very well, so why is it metastasizing now?", she asked. Previously, Nguyen Thien An had undergone 10 rounds of chemotherapy and had one-third of her liver removed.

Knowing she couldn't afford the medical expenses for both herself and her child, Ms. Hanh secretly stopped chemotherapy without her husband's knowledge, only taking maintenance medication so she could focus on treating her child.

Thien An's recurring liver cancer had metastasized to her lungs, forcing her and her mother to move to Ho Chi Minh City for treatment starting in early 2023. (Photo: Provided by the subject)

After five grueling months of treatment in Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Hanh recounted that after each 21-day chemotherapy session, she and her child would move to a free guesthouse near the hospital. They received two meals a day from charitable organizations. She used all the money her husband sent to buy medicine, a few packs of milk, or oranges to nourish her child.

In the early stages of treatment, Thien An lay listlessly all day, vomiting after every meal, causing her to become emaciated, pale, and jaundiced. The disease also metastasized to her lungs, causing her constant pain throughout her body, forcing her to sleep sitting up to breathe more easily. "Seeing my daughter sitting up all night gasping for breath broke my heart. I would wait for her to fall asleep so I could sneak out and cry," the mother recounted.

Despite being an only child, Thien An is very sensible. Except for times when her body is tired and in pain from illness, whenever she is lucid, the 13-year-old girl tries to help with household chores, and then reminds her mother to take her medicine and get enough rest.

"If Mom is healthy, then I'll be healthy too," the weak, whispering voice of her little daughter brought tears to Hanh's eyes.

In late May, Ms. Hanh and her child were discharged from the hospital after four rounds of medication.

For her part, Ms. Hanh said her health had deteriorated significantly, with frequent aches and pains and fatigue, but she decided not to continue treatment because she had many other things to worry about. Each time she had a relapse, she told herself, "That pain is nothing compared to what I'm going through."

"If I also get treatment, where will the money come from? It will only lead to more debt. My husband and I have one child, so we have to sell our house or pay any price to save her. We just hope a miracle will happen like it did 8 years ago when our daughter's illness was brought under control," the mother said.

Mr. Tran Van Tuan, head of Hamlet 2, Tri Phai Commune, Thoi Binh District, said that Ms. My Hanh's family is one of the particularly disadvantaged households in the hamlet. "Earlier this year, we considered including her family in the poverty list to benefit from support policies, hoping to alleviate their economic burden," the hamlet head said.

Quynh Nguyen

With the goal of instilling hope in child cancer patients, the Hope Foundation, in collaboration with the "Sun of Hope" program, is launching the "Sun of Hope" program. Each additional community contribution is another ray of light sent to the future generation of our country.

Readers can find information about the program here.

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