“Every time he has an attack, my heart tightens. Watching my child collapse and fall backward, his eyes rolling up, his arms and legs curling up, I am so scared,” his mother shared.

The boy is very friendly and laughs and chats with everyone. Judging by appearances alone, hardly anyone would guess he is suffering from a life-threatening illness.

The brain tumor and one round of surgery have changed the boy's temperament. Yet he still laughs, chats a lot and is so lively that everyone wants to talk to him and tease him.

Little Khang

Little Nguyễn Duy Khang is being treated at Children's Hospital 2, Ho Chi Minh City.

That is little Nguyễn Duy Khang (9 years old, from Đại Tín hamlet, Phước Lộc commune, Tuy Phước district, Bình Định province), who has a brain tumor and needs help to pay for his treatment.

According to his family, Duy Khang had been very healthy since he was little, with no sign of illness. The family only noticed something unusual when he began showing signs of puberty at just 8 years old; apart from that, there were no other symptoms.

When the family took him to the hospital for an examination, the doctors' findings left them deeply shocked, as they could not understand why this had happened to him.

Duy Khang had always been a bright, healthy boy with nothing unusual about him, no headaches or fevers, and yet he had a brain tumor.

Khang has already had one operation to remove the tumor, but only a short time later it came back, and he now needs another operation.

The long hospital stays, and a second round of illness arriving before the costs of the first treatment had been paid off, have left the family poor. The couple farm and also have side jobs; their income is not high, but if Duy Khang were not ill, they would get by.

Mr. Nguyễn Văn Lợi, Duy Khang's father, works at home and repairs TVs in the off-season. But as the TV repair trade has declined, he earns very little. Ms. Phong also does contract sewing to bring in extra income.

Since their son fell ill, however, the time spent traveling and caring for him has kept them from working, so their income has kept falling.

Talking with us, Ms. Nguyễn Thị Phong said with emotion: “For farmers like us, only the families lucky enough to have a side job can make ends meet. When everyone is healthy it's fine, but with a child ill for this long, you don't need to be told how hard it is.

Farming only gives my husband and me enough rice to eat, and our extra work brings in a little money for household expenses. Now our son is in the hospital for a long time, with costly trips back and forth and all the medicine, so even borrowing is not enough.

Next week he has to have surgery, and we have only managed to pay a 5 million VND advance on the hospital fees. All we hope for is enough money to take care of him, and for him to get well. Every time I see him crying out in pain from his headaches, all I can do is wipe away my tears.”

Source: Tiin