"Helping others is also helping ourselves, for the good we give will come back to us."
Mrs. Pham Thi Mai, born in 1993, lives in Nam Chinh commune, Duc Linh, Binh Thuan, and is married to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Lam, born in 1989. This lovely couple has a little boy in first grade.
In the past, Mrs. Mai worked as a laborer far away from home, while Mr. Lam toiled at a small, old barbershop he rented in a small neighborhood. They didn't own any farmland, and their house was a gift from Mai's younger sister. Life could have been peaceful and sufficiently nourishing for their family, filled with endless happiness, if it wasn't for that fateful day in October 2022 when tragedy struck. Mai's health began to decline, prompting her to seek medical attention. The doctor's diagnosis was devastating: end-stage kidney failure. Mai recalls, "Oh, truly, I didn't want to live. My mood became more anxious and sadder. But after a while, the desire to live became intense within me."
The couple had to borrow a sum of 50 million VND to start the initial treatment for her kidney condition, as they lacked health insurance.
Nowadays, Mai's health is deteriorating, making it increasingly difficult for her body to filter blood. The medical procedures, like dialysis, are agonizing, with the machine placed sometimes in her chest, other times in her thigh, and currently attached to her forearm. Whenever her husband touches the dialysis site, he hears the painful groans of the machine, and it breaks his heart.
Every two days, Mr. Lam wakes up at 5 a.m. to take his wife to the nearby hospital for dialysis. Since Mai fell ill, his sleep has been restless. Whenever he hears his wife struggling to breathe, he can't go back to sleep. From the time his wife fell ill, he rushed around tirelessly, taking care of his wife and their innocent little child while juggling additional work as a barber. Yet, the income from this extra work is barely enough—just 4 million VND per month. This is their primary source of income at the moment. His eyes are filled with sadness when he talks about their circumstances.
As for Mai herself, she yearns to live. She hopes for more time on this earth to care for her innocent child and be by her husband's side.
Each dialysis session incurs additional expenses on top of health insurance. The cost of the dialysis tubes is 220,000 VND per tube, and they use around 15 tubes per month. The kidney filters cost 420,000 VND per unit, and they go through four filters per month. The family has to pay 4,980,000 VND for these supplies every month, which is beyond their financial capabilities.
Both Mai's family and ours sincerely hope that generous benefactors near and far will join hands to help Mrs. Mai extends her life and improves her health alongside her small family.
We seek financial assistance of 60,000,000 VND for one year for her. Your kindness will be greatly appreciated!