A five-year-old girl in Tay Ninh Province has a chance at a better life due to the generosity of Dan Tri readers.
Nguyen Le Nhat Lam had just started first grade when she contacted encephalitis, which left her paralysed and unable to eat.
Le Thi My Ngoc, Lam's mother, said, "She needed to be held and her limbs needed massage all the time. She could barely sleep. Even with sedatives, she still couldn't sleep a full night."
Lam was extremely thin a year ago
Local doctors thought her condition was incurable, but the family persisted, borrowing heavily to pay for treatments and her care.
After her story was publicized by Dan Tri in May 2014, Nguyen Thanh Liem, director of Vinmec Hospital visited Lam and decided stem cell transplant therapy would help her. Lam started to gain weight and her health got better.
Lam's health improves after the transplant
The total cost was VND300 million (USD14,300), but doctors at Vinmec Hospital offered a 30 percent discount and reader donations made up the rest.
Learning to walk again
Lam requires intensive therapy because many of her bones curved while she was ill. Physical therapist Pham Nhat Chuong said Lam would need six months to a year to be able to walk again.
Ngoc said the family still faced many financial problems, but Lam's recovery was all that mattered.
