Vu Quoc Tuan, farmer from the northern province of Phu Tho, opted to donate one of his kidneys in order to save a young Hanoi girl’s life instead of accepting a USD50,000 reward.
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| Vu Quoc Tuan shows his scar after the kidney donation. |
Born in 1972 in Minh Phu commune, Doan Hungdistrict, since March, 2008 Tuan has worked as the parking lot attendant at the Central Pediatrics Hospital to pay for his daughter’s studies at university. Here he met Nguyen Thi Thanh and her 18-year old daughter Pham Thi Thu Ha from Gia Lam District and knew about Ha’s six-year medical battle.
Tuan was touched by Thanh’s sorrow over her daughter’s illness. Without a kidney transplant, Ha would likely have succumbed to this disease. Thanh’s tears over her daughter moved him so much that he decided that he would donate one of his own kidneys to Ha.
“I am a father who also has a daughter, and I know what it is like to take care of a child,” he said. “I can understand the infinite love a parent has for his child, and the pain of watching your own child suffer. Nothing is worse than seeing someone cry for their child.”
Tuan’s sympathy only grew as he learned more about their predicament. Ha’s father, a veteran of the American War, is blind in one eye. So the mother has to make ends meet any way she can, although she herself has asthma.
When Tuan told his daughter about his intention to donate his kidney, her response was equally generous. “You should do what you think is right. I will support you wholeheartedly,” she said.
After it became clear that as Tuan was going to donate his kidney to Ha, a rich family from Hai Phong City offered him a cash reward of USD50,000 to give the vital organ to their child instead. Although such an amount of money would be almost incomprehensible to a family like Tuan’s, he declined the offer. His reply to the proposal was, “With that much money to offer you have a good chance of finding your daughter a kidney. But poor Ha will likely die if she does not receive my kidney.”
Before the procedure Tuan had to undergo a total of 68 medical tests, which took about three months to complete. Unfortunately, during this time, a thief broke into his house and stole many of his belongings.
On October 20, 2008, the procedure was completed and the transplant was successful, although afterwards he was kept at the hospital for a month in order to make a full recovery. Ha is also in good health after the surgery and there seems to be no signs of rejection.
In many ways Tuan seems to be a real life hero. Although poor, he finds other ways to give; always willing to help others in
need. In July, 2007, for example, he donated blood to a child who was in serious need of his blood type. The child’s father could not give blood because he’d been exposed to Agent Orange.
Tuan was born with a slight deformation of his hand, which has become worse with age. And although in 1989 he was accepted to the Hanoi University of Theatre and Cinema he was forced to postpone his studies to take care of his aging parents.
