Injured, comatose, and in need of financial help

It was reported that Ha Ngoc Nhan, 20 years old and handicapped, was involved in a terrible accident and had to be hospitalised.

He is currently in critical condition at the Hue Central Hospital.

In the early morning of March 6, as usual, Nhan went to sell lottery tickets in her town as a means to earn a living. Unfortunately, he was hit by a car on the road and after falling to the ground, he was knocked unconscious. He bled from a gash on his head for almost an hour before Cu, Nhan’s father, was informed of his son's accident and called to the scene. Nhan was then taken to the hospital by ambulance.

Over the past few days, Ha Ngoc Cu and Le Thi Thuy (Nhan’s parents) could not stand still because they were consumed with worry that was shown clearly on their faces as they sat, waiting outside of the emergency room. They took turns watching Nhan and running around borrowing money to try to cover the hospital fees and medicine costs that they will have to pay. “Everytime the doctor says to prepare a few million VND, I’ll have to go around and borrow money from my relatives for my son,” Cu said in a sad voice.

After a 6-hour brain surgery and 3 days in the hospital, Nhan is still in a coma.

Nhan’s parents have 3 children with Nhan being the oldest. Nhan’s two legs have been crippled since he was a newborn and to move around Nhan had to walk on crutches. He stopped going to school when he was 15 due to his ill heath, crippled legs and difficult family circumstances. “My heart throbs with pain every time I see him. He actually has a very strong will so we let him go to school but we could only afford for him to study until Year 9. Our family is very poor and we have to struggle daily to live. His senior high school would be very far away from home so we sadly had to pull him out of school,” shared Nhan’s mother.

Nhan is very skinny and weighs only 40kg. His legs are crippled so he had to use the tips of his toes to move about, but despite all that, Nhan still woke up very early every morning to go and sell lottery tickets in order to contribute and help his parents to buy food for the family and to support his two younger sisters to go to school. “Before Tet, Nhan gave me VND 200,000 (10 USD) from his own savings, and he told me to use it to buy new clothes for his sisters. It had made my heart drop when he said that and now seeing Nhan in this sad condition, I cannot help it,” cried Thuy.

While Thuy and I were talking, a small woman came near and said, “I have two piglets which I kept for breeding, but I have just sold them for almost VND 1 million (52 USD). You should take it to pay for Nhan’s hospital care.” This woman turned out to be Thuy’s sister, Hong, who cycled almost 20 kilometres to come here and give Thuy some extra cash to help Nhan.

Nhan has been hospitalised for a few days now but he is still in a comatose state. The brain surgery lasted for almost 6 hours on March 7, but until now he has not yet come out of his coma. Currently, Nhan is breathing with the help of an oxygen machine.

Cu said in worry, “The doctors have said very little about Nhan’s current situation. They just said Nhan is now in a very critical condition and we need to prepare large amounts of money for whenever it is needed straight away.”

Nhan’s 3 days in the hospital cost about VND 30 million to 40 million (1,500 – 2,000 USD). Anything valuable in the house Nhan’s parents have sold. Nhan’s relatives are also poor and they already did their best to lend Cu some money. Cu’s house, which is only 20 square metres and roofed by bamboo, houses a family of 5 and has no value to even be pawned. “It’s okay if we have nothing left. We only hope to have enough money to support Nhan and help him though this misfortune,” Cu’s shared through a voice choked with emotion.