Le Trung Tuan now works as a driver and runs a convenient shop with his wife in Thanh Hoa Province
A decade ago, 15-year-old Le Trung Tuan and his poor parents made a call for help to save him from a growing tumour on Dantri/Dtinews.
Despite Tuan's health being normal during the first ten years of his life, a tumour started appearing on his face in 2009 when he was 11.
Tuan's parents took him to many hospitals across the country where doctors all said he suffered from fibrous dysplasia of the bone, a life-threatening disease. The tumour kept growing rapidly and the prospects for a successful recovery were small. The boy was losing lots of weight as the tumour grew. He weighed only 20 kilos at the age of 15 and doctors said he could not undergo surgery at that time due to his health.
However, the boy's parents didn't give up. Living on a limited income, they kept seeking help from various sources to save their son. And they nurtured a hope that Tuan could have an operation to remove his tumour. The tumour became smaller and he gained weight with the help of a traditional medical practitioner in Quang Ninh Province. Tuan was given some kinds of traditional herbal medicine in two months and his health improved.
After being informed about the boy's improvement, an American surgeon, Dr Mckay McKinnon came to Vietnam to help remove the tumour. The American surgeon was then already famous in Vietnam after successfully removing a 90-kilo tumour from the leg of a young man from Da Lat City.
Thanks to financial support from many individuals and organisations including Virtual Medical Miracle Network from Canada, Vovicare from Australia, VinaCapital Foundation and Detech Group in Vietnam, and the skilled hands of Dr McKinnon and other doctors at the Hanoi-based Vinmec Hospital, the boy was saved after a nine-hour operation on July 23, 2013.
After that, Dr McKinnon returned to Vietnam three more times to conduct three operations to rebuild Tuan’s face. The final surgery was completed successfully in December 2016, giving the boy a new life after eight years of suffering.
Le Trung Tuan at the hospital 10 in 2013
When expressing his thanks to the doctors and kind donors for saving his son, the father, Le Trung Ha, said that the first thing Tuan did after recovering from the disease was to learn English so that he could talk and send his gratitude to Dr McKinnon.
Tuan on his wedding day
"I'm really lucky to have received such big love and support from the wider public to survive a deadly disease," Tuan said. "I’ll try to live a good life as a way to repay kind donors and doctors."
"At that time I could not imagine my son could have this happy life," the father remembered. "My wife and I had agreed to donate his organs if he died during the surgery. After paying for his treatment, we had shared part of the money that donors sent to support Tuan with people facing similar situations."
