A three-year-old boy in Nghe An Province is in need of financial support to help treat a kidney problem.

Le Nguyen Gia Huy

Nguyen Thi Vinh, washes dishes for restaurant while her husband, Le Van Khoi, is a freelance driver. Vinh has two children from a previous marriage and another with Khoi. Despite their small income, they had a happy family. But in 2013, their youngest child, Le Nguyen Gia Huy, suddenly fell ill.

"He was healthy upon birth. But when he was seven months old, he had edema all over his body and diarrhoea. We borrowed money to bring him to hospital and doctors said he had chronic kidney failure and needed to be admitted immediately," Vinh said.

Doctors had to place a peritoneal dialysis catheter in his abdomen. Huy's parents continued to borrow money from everyone they could but their son's health keeps deteriorating. Huy's treatments are costly so the family is struggling to pay for the older children's school tuition and daily expenses.

Nguyen Thi Vinh cares for Huy

Huy also has severe calcium deficiency which causes his bones to easily break. "He has broken his arms and legs ten times. His bones can break just from other people holding him a bit too tight," Huy's mother said. "He needs a kidney transplant and I'll give him one of mine but the surgery costs VND500m."

Huy's parents owe hundreds of millions of VND for his treatments over the years and do not know where to borrow more. They moved back to Huy's maternal grandmother's house for help as Huy's mother leave her job to take care of him.

Vo Thanh Hai, chairman of Hung Thong Commune People's Committee said they were planning to put Huy under the social protection programme.