As a representative of the Giấc mơ đôi chân thiên thần Fund, I visited Su on a Sunday afternoon in month 4, just after a rain shower. With bright, clear eyes that seemed to hold the entire sky that day, she pleaded with her mother: “Mom, let me go outside and play, please, pleeease….” Her mother shook her head: “Be good, Su. Just play by the doorway, don't go outside, my love.” After the exchange repeated a third time, she obeyed. She leaned against the door and gazed outside, where 3 other children were chattering and playing only about 10 steps away. A trace of sadness seemed to pass through the clear eyes of this girl not yet 6 years old.
Her mother seemed to read the question on my mind — “Why don't you let her go outside to play?” — and turned to explain, “I'd really like Su to play outside, but I'm very afraid the other children might accidentally hit Su's tube while playing.” It was the first time I had heard that term, and I genuinely could not picture what it was, so I asked, “What is the tube?” Finding it difficult to explain in words, her mother called her over, lifted her shirt, and guided my hand to the right side of her chest. By touch, I could feel a plastic loop fitted into her chest, and my heart ached when I saw the scar beside it, marking where the doctor had opened her skin to insert it… In that moment, I could not say a word; tears were welling up… The “tube” her mother mentioned was the catheter loop placed in her chest to deliver chemotherapy drugs. The concern was that administering the drugs through an ordinary blood vessel would burn it, so they had to pass through the chest catheter directly into the aorta…
Su's mother says that any mother whose child has a tube fitted, as Su does, shares the same worry. An accidental bump while playing could cause unpredictable damage to the tube loop and to the children's fragile bodies. And that is why boys and girls like Su cannot experience a simple joy that every child loves — the joy of “going outside to play with friends”…
Su, in the story I have shared here, is the affectionate nickname of Phạm Trần Anh Thy, one of the 16 pediatric patients whose monthly medical treatment costs the Fund currently supports directly. If you feel a connection and would like to accompany Anh Thy, please contact the Giấc mơ đôi chân thiên thần Fund right away!
Detailed profile of Anh Thy: http://giacmodoichanthienthan.com/ho-so-be-pham-tran-anh-thy/
Community members interested in helping can contact the Fund to provide 1-to-1 companionship for Anh Thy or other child patients for 6 months or 1 year. Support for each child totals 12–24 million/year, requiring a monthly transfer of just 1–2 million. This is also each child's average monthly medical treatment cost.
Details of the 1-to-1 Companion Program at: https://www.facebook.com/giacmodoichanthienthan/photos/a.493245170710009/3181075758593590/?type=3
Fund contact information:
Hotline: 0898.101.555 (Đại Lộc)
Inbox: http://m.me/giacmodoichanthienthan
Email: [email protected]
On behalf of the GMĐCTT Fund Executive Board
Ambassador Lương Bạch Thảo sincerely thanks you for your kindness and the time you gave to read this entire article.
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Read more stories about the children: http://giacmodoichanthienthan.com/category/cau-chuyen-ve-cac-be/