A mother in Danang has reached the end of the road and is considering asking doctors to take her son off life-support because she can no longer afford to pay for his care.

Dong in hospital

Tran Canh Dong is on a ventilator after he fell from his motorbike and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He had worked as a labourer in a textile factory.

Doctors said Dong had developed purulent meningitis and is rarely conscious, cannot speak and cannot breath unaided.

All the members of Dong's family are labourers. His siblings contribute what they can to pay for his care.

Dong's mother wants to bring him home

But because of the multidrug-resistant infection, doctors have to use many medicines not covered by health insurance. The medicines cost about VND4m a day. Dong's family borrowed money, but after a month, they have no where else to go to.

"We don't have anything valuable to sell and we don't know anyone else to borrow money anymore. I asked doctors to let me bring him home, to stay with him until his last breath, but they refused," said his mother, Pham Thi Xoa.

Doctors at Danang General Hospital sympathise with Xoa's predicament and called on the community to help.

One doctor, Nguyen Huu Tho, said, "We think that he still has a chance to live, but if the family brings him home, he will die."  

If you can help him, please donate through:

1. Code 1761: Pham Thi Xoa (Dong's mother) from Nhi Dinh 2 Village, Dien Phuoc Commune, Dien Ban District, Quang Nam Province.

Tel: 0165.3711019