The desperate plea of the distraught wife led us to the Nghe An Friendship General Hospital, where her husband, Mr. Ngo Sy Tam (51 years old), was receiving treatment.

Mr. Ngo Sy Tam suffered from many illnesses that weakened his health and caused his abdomen to swell (Photo: Hoang Lam).
Mr. Tam lay on his hospital bed, his face gaunt and gaunt. Mrs. Chau was gently stroking her husband's swollen belly, which resembled that of a woman five months pregnant, trying to ease his pain. A suppressed cough escaped from Mr. Tam's throat, and Mrs. Chau exclaimed anxiously, "Try to hold it in, don't cough, or the blood will gush out again!"
She hurriedly grabbed a bottle of medicated oil and rubbed it on her husband's chest and neck. The weather had turned cold these past few days, and Mr. Tam had been coughing more. Every time she heard him cough, Mrs. Chau was haunted by the image of her husband's face and his blood-soaked shirt...
"In early November, after his insurance treatment ended, he was discharged from the hospital. I planned to keep him at home for a few days to sort out the money and then take him to the district hospital to complete the procedures for transferring him to a provincial hospital to continue his insurance coverage. That night, Mr. Tam had a violent coughing fit, clutching his chest and feeling weak. Blood gushed from his mouth, soaking his neck and shirt. I frantically rushed him to the hospital."

Mr. Tam's life is like a candle in the wind... (Photo: Hoang Lam).
"At the provincial hospital, the doctors performed an endoscopy on his throat. I stood beside them and saw a large mass of bright red blood on the screen, and I fainted. The doctor said that a person's body has 5 liters of blood, but he lost 2 liters," Mrs. Chau recounted, still shuddering.
Mrs. Chau and her husband struggled with infertility. After years of unsuccessful treatment, she had to accept the harsh reality that she was not blessed with children.
But fate continued to strike the family. In 2008, Mr. Tam was diagnosed with cirrhosis, but due to lack of money, he was treated with only traditional medicine. It wasn't until 2015, when his condition worsened, that Mr. Tam finally went to the hospital.

The expensive prescriptions, costing millions of dong, are beyond the means of the poor wife (Photo: Hoang Lam).
Mr. Tam was frail and ill, unable to work. The family's economy depended on Mrs. Chau's work collecting and buying scrap materials. Mrs. Chau took advantage of opportunities to collect wastewater from garbage dumps and raise pigs to cover living expenses and her husband's medical costs.
Since the beginning of 2023, Mr. Tam's condition worsened. Complications from cirrhosis led to stage 1 hepatic encephalopathy and gastrointestinal bleeding, causing him to be hospitalized repeatedly. With few family members, Mrs. Chau had to quit her job to care for her husband. After admitting him to the hospital and preparing everything, she would rush back home by bus to raise money.
A woman who has never been a mother pleads for her husband's life ( Video : Hoang Lam).
With a limping leg, a lingering injury from a traffic accident, Mrs. Chau hobbled to the cupboard and pulled out some prescriptions and bags of medicine.
"Each prescription lasts for 3 days, costing nearly 4 million dong. That means I still owe 50 million dong. For over a decade, he's been constantly ill, and I've borrowed money from everyone – my siblings, friends, neighbors, and myself."
"Besides, with an elderly couple like us, sick and without children, who would dare lend us a lot of money? They're afraid we won't be able to repay it, and I don't dare blame them. Many times, when we're really broke, I take a chance and borrow a few hundred dong from other patients or their family members in the same room, but they give me half, so I only have to pay back half the borrowed amount," she said, her voice choked with emotion.

Mrs. Chau only hopes her husband can hold on a little longer so she can have someone to keep him company (Photo: Hoang Lam).
Every day, Mrs. Chau buys 20,000 dong worth of porridge, dividing it into three meals for her husband. Actually, Mr. Tam can't eat much; he relies mainly on medicine to survive. As for her, she just eats a loaf of bread and a sweet potato to get by.
According to Mr. Dau Xuan Truong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Ky commune, Dien Chau district, the family of Mr. Ngo Sy Tam and Mrs. Dang Thi Chau is classified as a particularly disadvantaged household in the commune. Due to illness and frequent hospital visits, the couple lacked the means to repair their dilapidated and damaged house. Recently, the local government, organizations, and relatives have mobilized and raised funds to help rebuild the house so that the couple can have a safe place to live.

Mr. Tam could pass away at any moment due to numerous illnesses, but he still harbors a deep concern for his wife who never experienced the joy of motherhood (Photo: Hoang Lam).
The weather wasn't too cold, but Mr. Tam kept shivering. Mrs. Chau pulled a thin blanket over her husband and then winced, clutching her aching ankle. An accident two years ago had fractured her ankle, and the doctor advised her to limit her movement. But to pay for her husband's medication and meals, she had to struggle to make ends meet by collecting scrap metal. Perhaps that's why the wound never healed, tormenting her with pain whenever the weather changed.
"Look at his stomach, it's swollen like a drum. The doctor said they'd drain the fluid, but he's too weak, so I'm asking for a postponement. I don't know if he'll make it through Tet," she said, her voice dropping.
Hearing his wife's words, Mr. Tam silently turned his face towards the window. His fate was sealed, but he wished he had a child to keep her company...
All donations and assistance for code 5055 should be sent to:
1. Mrs. Dang Thi Chau (wife of Mr. Tam)
Address: Hamlet 4, Dong Trai, Dien Ky Commune, Dien Chau District, Nghe An Province
Phone: 0975048970
Account number: 234704070003389 - HDbank, account holder: Dang Thi Chau
No. 2, Giang Vo Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi
Tel: 024. 3. 7366.491/ Fax: 024. 3. 7366.490
Email: nhanai@dantri.com.vn
Readers can donate through the following accounts:
(Transfer details should include: Donation for MS 5055)
* VND account at VietComBank:
Account number: 1017378606
At: Vietnam Foreign Trade Commercial Bank - Thanh Cong Branch - Hanoi.
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Account Name: Bao Dien Tu Dan tri
Account Number: 1017780241
Swift Code: BFTV VNVX 045
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Account Name: Bao Dien Tu Dan tri
Account Number: 1022601465
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* VND account at VietinBank:
Account number: 126000081304
At: Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade - Hoan Kiem Branch
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Account Number: 26110002631994
At: Vietnam Investment and Development Bank - Trang An Branch
Address: 11 Cua Bac Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi City.
Tel: 0436869656.
* VND account at Military Bank (MB)
Account number: 0231195149383
At Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank - Thai Thinh Branch - Hanoi
* VND account at Agribank:
- VND account number: 1400206035022
- At the bank: Agribank Lang Ha Branch.
* At Saigon - Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB)
- VND account number: 1017589681
- Hanoi Branch.
* At Asia Commercial Bank (ACB)
- VND account number: 333556688888
- Dong Do Branch - Thanh Xuan Education Department
3. Representative offices of the newspaper:
- Da Nang Office: No. 1 Le Duan Street, Hai Chau District, Da Nang City.
Tel: 0236. 3653 725
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