A Tragic Accident, A Community's Hope: Helping Little Ly A Vu Heal
In the recovery room of the National Burns Hospital, little Ly A Vu, just three years old and from the Hmong ethnic community, lies still. His small body is wrapped entirely in white bandages, making him look like a tiny plaster statue. The brave little boy is enduring unimaginable pain after a terrible accident where he fell into a pot of hot pig feed, leaving 48% of his body with severe burns.
His father, 34-year-old Ly A Lu, sits heartbroken by his son's bedside, his face etched with sorrow and regret. On March 28th, while he and his wife were working in their schools, little Vu was at home with his grandmother. Tragically, he stumbled and fell into the scalding pot. When his father rushed home, he found his son's skin grievously injured, the little boy having cried until he lost consciousness from the pain.
Mr. Lu’s family is among the poorest in Ang To Commune, Muong Ang District, Dien Bien Province. Both parents are unable to read or write and do not speak the national language fluently. They scrape by, farming corn and cassava on a small patch of land to feed their five young children. After the accident, they managed to borrow 2 million VND from their neighbors and fellow villagers. They hired a motorbike taxi to take Vu to the district health center, and from there, he was transferred to Dien Bien Provincial General Hospital. The kind doctors there pooled together 1 million VND and arranged for a charity ambulance to bring the little boy to the National Burns Hospital in Hanoi.
Currently, little Vu is receiving intensive medical care. Dr. Tran Thi Diu Hien, one of the doctors treating him, shared that while Vu's burns are extremely severe, he has initially responded quite well to the treatment plan. However, his path to recovery will be long and expensive, and the family desperately needs the compassionate support of the wider community.
