Last year, Dantri/Dtinews published a story about the difficult lives of two blind twin brothers who lived with a disabled uncle and his ill wife in Kien Giang Province.
Nguyen Cong Truong and Nguyen Phuoc Tho, aged 15, were born preterm with roughly one kilo in weight each and were very weak.
The boys have been sent to live with their uncle, Pham Van Nghia, since they were just three months old as their poor parents tried to seek various jobs to earn money for their prolonged medical treatment.
The disabled uncle and his ill wife who have no children also tried to work hard as vendors to take care of their little nephews.
But it was not until the babies were nearly one-year old that the family noticed that they could not see.
The twins were brought to some eye hospitals where doctors said they had no corneas and would be blind for the rest of their life.
At first, the family didn't believe the doctors and borrowed money to try to cure the boys by any means they could think of for four years. And they incurred big debts.
Despite difficulties, Nghia and his wife tried to send the boys to a school for disabled children in An Giang Province. In 2016, the boys started music lessons to become traditional musicians.
The twins and their uncle
After the story about the twins was published, many people in Vietnam and abroad have visited them or sent donations to support the family.
When Dan Tri visited the family recently, the happy teenagers showed many of the prizes that they won at some recent music competitions, including a gold medal at the Singing Competition for the Disabled in the southern region and a silver medal at the National Singing Competition for the Disabled 2019.
"Although being disabled, we are lucky to have a loving family and get such support from the pubic," Truong said. "I want to express my deepest thanks to my family and the donors. We all have love for music and will try to learn to play more musical instruments in the future."
His uncle said that they were very moved by the public support and the boys have had a better life and chance to study.