ephemeral happiness of barren child

After each radiation treatment, Cuet’s scalp blistered, then darkened. A docile, happy child, now even the sound and temperature can cause the boy to become irritable and extremely stressed.

God has been waiting for 13 years

With a bold figure and a stern face, Ms Phung Thi Hai – Cuet’s mother – reviewed the ups and downs from birth to the day she learned her child had the disease.

After waiting a long time without a child even after being married for a long time, the couple went to the doctor and found out that she was infertile. From the rural areas of Nghe An, he traveled to all major hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City for treatment. Whenever someone tells him that there is some good remedy, he tries to drink it but fails again.

Finally, they decided to do artificial insemination using donated sperm. In March 2017, when Quiet was born after 13 years of infertility treatment, her parents’ expectations were high, and the mother jumped with joy.

In that process the meager wages of the workers were spent. Because of the extremely difficult treatment, Ms. Hai was almost sedentary during her pregnancy, not even daring to ride a bike to the antenatal clinic.

When Quốt was 3 years old, an uncle noticed that the couple was very strict, called Binh Phuoc, lent them the house to temporarily live and do business in the hope of less hard work.

“At the end of 2020, we opened a sugarcane juice shop, just to get used to selling to a large number of customers, but in early 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic put us on hold and forced us to pause. 2022 At the beginning of 2010, the couple borrowed a little money to open a restaurant, but in August of the same year, the couple borrowed a little money to open a restaurant. The shop was a little crowded, so Quat got cancer,” Hai said. Said.

Broken Dreams

Talking about her only son, Ms. Hai said that Quiet is a very nice and childless child, he never quarreled, so even if there are children in the house, the neighbors rarely hear children’s voices .

Hai once secretly thanked God for loving the poor couple’s continued journey, so he did not despair. Decided to be sent to kindergarten, every afternoon he was raised with the title of helping his mother cook rice, arranging dishes and chopsticks cleanly like the adults in the house, even though no one told them anything .

One day, Quiet vomited, closed his eyes continuously, cried out in pain, and fainted. Ms. Hai bought medicine for her child, but she didn’t feel better, so she took a car to take her child from Binh Phuoc to Children’s Hospital 1 (HCMC) and was diagnosed with digestive disorders, to take medicine Sent home.

Also not positive, Cuyet was again hospitalized and still only the result of digestive disorders and then returned home.

But the mother’s conscience tells her that her child is not in good health. In the third hospital, she still said that her child had a digestive disorder, the mother was actually “blind” because every day Quet became more and more emaciated, took medicine for more than a month and could not recover Was. Hai decides to ask the doctor to get a CT scan of the brain.

Sitting near the imaging room waiting for the results, she vaguely overheard the conversation between nurses and nurses. “When I saw the results that my son had a brain tumor, I broke down. I am alone, it is not easy, I am infertile…”, the mother begged.

Decided to have brain cancer. The parents quit all their jobs and moved to Saigon with their children. At first, he bounced around trying to stay in business. But the Quiet was too weak, the restaurant was neglected and gradually lost customers, and Hai broke down on the shop.

The mother goes to the city alone to take care of the children, the father works as a welder in Binh Phuoc, earning about 7 million VND/month, but occasionally has a construction project.

Saigon is still a wonderful place, as people say, but even in the heart of the city, there are days when mother and daughter don’t have silver coins. Please enter the shelter near the hospital, the small room is just enough for a shabby bed for mother and daughter to spend the day together.

The child is sick, the dreams of a small family are shattered like a sponge. Life seems to be filled with only ever-increasing impasses.

“I used to make plans to collect money for my little brother Quiet just as his brother came over, but I didn’t have time to do anything, now he’s here, so many plans…”, Ms. Hai skipped a sentence .