Diep (Tron Tron) is my second child. She was born on October 7, 2019. After birth, she went to the doctor many times because of high liver enzymes, but none of the doctors told me that she had biliary atresia. Two months after the birth, Diep developed mild jaundice, creamy yellow stools, and black urine. Doctors at the National Children's Hospital of Vietnam believed that Diep had biliary atresia and set a date for Kasai's surgery 15 days later.
Because we were diagnosed too late and worried about the failure of the complicated Kasai operation, we decided not to accept the Kasai operation and directly replaced the liver. The original plan was to perform the liver transplant at the National Children’s Hospital (NCH). If the state subsidy is not obtained, the operation will be performed at the Vinmec Hospital. It is the end of 2019.
However, the occurrence of COVID-19 is completely out of our plan. We originally thought that the epidemic would be brought under control soon, but it has become more serious as more and more confirmed cases are reported. In May 2020, although the epidemic situation in Vietnam has stabilized, the epidemic situation in other countries is still very severe. Foreign medical experts cannot come, and domestic doctors cannot independently perform liver replacement surgery. Diep's survival rate is almost zero.
I began to panic. I asked all major hospitals in Ho Chi City, Hue and Hanoi to get the same answer. At this time, I had the only hope that NCH believed that Taiwan was not affected by the COVID-19. Director Liu’s liver transplant team should be able to come again. After I confirmed everything at NCH, I immediately accepted the preoperative inspections.
But I found that the date could not be determined and Director Liu could not come. Suddenly I had a bold idea that maybe I could go to Taiwan for treatment. I consulted Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem . He agreed with my ideas and believed that Taiwan has a good medical standard. In addition to the TVGH, it also provides Kaohsiung Chang Gung and the affiliated hospital of Kyushu University in Japan (a cooperative hospital of Vinmec Hospital in Vietnam) let me choose a hospital. I browsed related articles on the Internet and found that the children's surgery that Director Liu cooperated with NCH had excellent results, so I decided to seek medical treatment in TVGH.
My husband and my mother and I went to the National Children’s Hospital (NCH) to receive a liver transplant pairing. My husband and I were matched successfully, but my mother failed. However, my relatives and friends objected. They asked me to give up, fearing that our liver donation would be dangerous; the huge medical expenses of US$100,000 to 120,000 are another problem. What we can afford is only 60-70% of the cost, but I will never give up. I decided to donate my liver. And asked Dr. Hoa if he could ask Dr. Hoa’s friend to perform a liver transplant in Vietnam, but the answer was that the risk is too high.
I feel very sad, sometimes even more desperate, and want to ask why God treats me like this! But every cloud has a silver lining. The flights between Taiwan and Vietnam were originally grounded due to the epidemic. Fortunately, the Vietnamese government still arranges charter flights to Taiwan to bring back Vietnamese people in Taiwan. The most recent flight was on July 20. I asked friends to call Vietnam Airlines, let us have a chance to board, and then I ask the deputy general manager of my Vietnam TV station to write to Vietnam Airlines for help. The plane was confirmed on July 18, and we also bought the tickets immediately.
Fortunately again, my friend also my best friend on National TV in Vietnam initiated a fundraising activity for me. In just one week, enough medical expenses were raised so that we can go to Taiwan for treatment. This is a miracle. All my problems were solved easily, and the only thing I needed to do was to keep my child's condition stable. Finally, I met Director Liu, and my child received perfect treatment and care.
-WHA 拍攝臺灣國際醫療援助影片 英文版-
-Never give up-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_sb2WYIjCA&feature=youtu.be