Injury Date: 1992
Injuries: Partial paralysis of left side; large fragments in head; broken ribs; loss of four fingers on left hand, one on right; perforated internal organs
District: Dong Ha, Qunag Tri Province Town
Intake Date: Vietnam Medical Project, June 2001
CPI Assistance: internal surgery; physical rehabilitation; Quality of Life Improvement grant
Occupation: unemployed

The object was a “triangular shape” and thought to be a mine. No one is really sure, but when it exploded Phuc’s life was completely altered. He suffered paralysis, lost fingers, and ribs were broken. There were large fragments in his head, a kidney destroyed, his intestines perforated and, after six months in the hospital, his already poor family was well beyond poor: an economic blow from which they have yet to recover.

The doctors gave up on him after saving his life. Paralyzed, only intermittently conscious and using a colostomy bag, he returned home to languish for years. He felt defeated. When asked to come for assessment during the VMP visit to Dong Ha, hope rose. After being assessed he returned home and began doing his own physical therapy. Following up on him for QLI, CPI found that the house was in desperate need of a roof, though no one spoke of it, and that Phuc had a singular wish: he wanted to have his colon reconnected.

The VMP doctors had been skeptical. Doctors at Quang Tri General expressed the same concerns about reconnecting a colon after ten years. Our main organizational counterpart, the Committee for the Protection and Care of Children, had a suggestion: send him for surgical assessment at Hue General Hospital.

Optimistic despite all evidence to the contrary, Phuc entered the hospital for two full weeks of exhaustive tests and consultations. The doctors determined that the surgery could be done, owing to continuing function of the lower GI tract, but that it was a risky procedure because of the loss of a kidney in the accident, and the limited function of the remaining kidney. Under the best of circumstances, within a few months of such trauma, there would be risk. Phuc, undaunted, was determined to proceed and had the surgery.

After two weeks of recuperation he was released. Construction began on the new roof for the house, and the kitchen was re-roofed with serviceable sections from the old roof. His father and mother, both in their sixties, were beside themselves. They had never given up on their son, but his injury had such tremendous impact that literally the roof had rusted away above them. His mother works cutting and hauling firewood in the hills outside town everyday, while her husband, crippled in a motorcycle accident, is unable to work and uses a wheelchair. The combined income of the family of three is under 200,000 VND a month: less than $14 US, and the family holds what is called a Poverty Card owing to their conditions.

Phuc waits now for the doctors to let him begin physical therapy at Quang Tri General Hospital in Dong Ha, and during CPI’s last visit he said, “Now, maybe someone will marry me and we can help my parents.”