A three-year-old boy in Nghe An Province is suffering from podoconiosis, an inflammatory disease that cause limbs to swell to an unusual size.

Minh's right arm and left leg swell up

Truong Thi Danh, 26, is a saleswoman for a small clothes shop in Quy Hop District and earns VND1.8m a month (USD81). She shoulders the whole family as her husband has a more carefree lifestyle and doesn’t have a proper job.

Danh said her husband and other men in the village went to China to find work months ago to send money home. She doesn't know what he is doing and worries that he could be arrested by local police.

Her son, Truong Cong Minh, had to be operated when he was nearly one month old to remove the "tail" growing out from his spinal cord. But the tail started to grow again when he was discharged months later.

Minh had to be operated to remove the tail"growing out from his spinal cord

Then he was diagnosed with podoconiosis, causing his right arm and left leg to swell up while the left arm and right leg are thinner than normal.

Danh said she had gone to many hospitals and doctors advised her to get Minh operated on as quickly as possible. "But we don't have any money. My parents are weak and they’re also poor. I just want my child to be normal," she said.

Danh's parents incomes come from their small sugarcane field. "Her husband hasn't sent money home for a while now. We don't know where to find money to treat Minh," said Danh's mother-in-law, Truong Thi Khan.