A Mother's Illness, A Father's Accident, And Children in Need: A Nghe An Family Teetering on the Brink of Despair
In a small, old, single-story house in a poor hamlet in Nghi Lam Commune, Nghi Loc District (Nghe An province), a family is desperately battling a cruel twist of fate. The mother, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thom, lies bedridden, her body so thin it's less than skin and bones. One of her legs is swollen and necrotic, causing her such agonizing pain that many nights she simply wishes she could let go, to escape the torment.
But just as she was struggling, before she could even begin to recover, her husband, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thong, tragically met with a serious accident while on his way to buy medicine for her. He now lies in a deep coma in the hospital, his life hanging precariously, like a candle in the wind.
The tragedy doesn't end there. Their eldest son, Nguyen Dinh Vuong, a recent university graduate, has had to put aside his dreams of starting a career to shoulder the burden of caring for the entire family. Vuong's two younger siblings are not faring much better: one suffers from congenital heart disease, and the other is still too young to fully comprehend the overwhelming sorrow weighing down their family.
Surrounded by despair, only the compassion of their neighbors helps them get through each day. This entire family, each and every one of them, desperately years for a helping hand – so the mother can find some relief from her pain, so the father might awaken, and so the children can have a glimmer of hope to continue their lives.
