Two ailing children drive Dien Bien family into hardship

Luong Van Kim and his wife Ca Thi Panh live in a deteriorating wooden house in Na Phat Village, Na Son Commune, where years of financial hardship have worsened as their children’s medical costs keep rising.

Their son Luong Van Nhat, born in 2009, and daughter Luong Huyen Bao Tram, born in 2020, were both diagnosed with the disease when they were only a few months old.

Since then, the family has had to travel regularly to provincial and central hospitals for blood transfusions, sometimes making two hospital visits a month when the children’s conditions worsen.

“If they do not receive blood transfusions, they become very weak and their lives could be at risk,” Panh said.

The family relies mainly on farming for income, but repeated spending on treatment, transport, accommodation and medicine has pushed them deeper into debt.

Nhat’s health deteriorated to the point that he was forced to leave school halfway through first grade because he no longer had the strength to continue studying.

Meanwhile, Bao Tram, who is at an age when children normally begin attending school and playing with friends, has instead become familiar with hospital beds and regular injections.

“We feel heartbroken seeing our children suffer every day,” Panh added. “Other children can go to school and play, while our children mostly stay at home or go to hospital.”

The family’s hardship has been compounded by the condition of their home, a wooden house built in 2005 that has severely deteriorated over time.

Its pillars and beams have been damaged by termites, while parts of the roof leak heavily during storms, raising fears that the structure could collapse.

“Whenever heavy rain comes, we cannot sleep because we worry the house could collapse at any time,” Kim said.

According to Ho A Ta, chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in Na Son Commune, the family is among the most disadvantaged households in the area.

He added the children’s long-term treatment costs, unstable income and unsafe housing conditions had left the family in severe hardship. 

Local authorities have appealed for community support to help the family repair their home and continue treatment for the children.