Death rejected Phuong after the traffic accident, but took away his legs. The 17-year-old boy’s life changed completely overnight in a way that was “frightening to think about”.

September 30, 2017, Luong Hoang Phuong (Ward 3, Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City) was driven home by a friend after rehearsing the Mid-Autumn Festival performance in the ward. From behind, a dump truck traveling in the same direction crashed straight into Phuong’s car. After the collision, Phuong did not know whether to live or die.

3 days after resuscitation, doctors at Military Hospital 175 said “it was a miracle to keep Phuong’s life”, but his crushed legs had to be amputated.

100 days later, the doctor announced that Phuong could go home. The immediate life of the 17-year-old boy at that time was completely different from what Phuong and his family had previously imagined.

One year after the fateful night

The room is only 15 m2 in a small alley where 4 members of Luong Hoang Phuong’s family live. That was the consequence of a year of spending money on treatment and months of endless hospitalization and surgery for his eldest son after a terrible traffic accident.

Unexpected events caused the economic burden to fall heavily on the shoulders of Phuong’s parents. Therefore, although we visited the rented room many times, we never met Phuong’s father. Father was busy driving a taxi from early morning until late at night, and mother worked as a housekeeper in shifts for a company to conveniently feed Phuong and take her 10-year-old brother to school.

Since the day she became disabled, her mother became Phuong’s extended legs. Every day, the boy just hangs around the room, his mother helps him with all his daily chores.

More than 100 days in the hospital and 9 times on the operating table

After the accident, Phuong was taken to the emergency room at Central Military Hospital 175. To save the lives of the two young men, the hospital had to activate the red alert procedure, mobilize all emergency crews as well as asked for blood from many medical facilities to transfuse the two victims. Luckily, both boys escaped the scythe of death after many efforts by doctors to save them.

Waking up in the hospital, Phuong did not know why she was lying here and did not know that she would no longer be able to walk like a normal person. At that time, my mother did not dare to tell her son the truth.

“My mother always avoided me after I woke up, trying to hide her emotions. It wasn’t until my classmate came to visit that I realized I had lost my legs,” Phuong recalled.

Lying down for a long time and not exercising, Phuong’s kidneys were filled with fluid, requiring constant dialysis for emergency care.

A week or a month passed, and Ms. Binh – Phuong’s mother – did not know when her child would be discharged from the hospital. Days and months of fighting with her child seem to exhaust the mother. She lost nearly 6 kg, was in pain every time she changed the bandages for her son’s amputated leg, and the open wound still often bled.

Changing the bandage was a terrifying experience for Phuong. Each time, the doctor had to inject him with pain-relieving needles, but the boy still held tightly to his mother’s shoulder, screaming in pain. After more than 100 days in the hospital, the doctor announced that Phuong could go home. It was a moment of liberation for both mother and daughter.

Returning to life does not mean that Phuong can say “goodbye” to the hospital operating room door. Phuong’s femur still grew and pierced the flesh. Every month or so the young man went to the hospital.

The doctor knew Phuong’s face as well as the treatment process: Go to the operating room, anesthetize, cut the protruding bone and sew. Since being discharged from the hospital, Phuong has been on the operating table 9 times.

“Every time my child goes on the operating table, I sit outside and wait for him, and the haunting memories of the accident a year ago return. Every now and then I think about the future, what Phuong will do, where her life will go. Because, parents cannot live with their children forever,” the mother said, unable to hold back her tears.

The doctor still cannot answer the mother when Phuong will no longer have to be on the operating table. The femur continues to grow because the boy is still growing up. That means that every 45 days, Ms. Binh will continue to push the wheelchair to take Phuong to the operating room.

Phuong’s dream

During Phuong’s hospital days, the whole family fell into crisis. It is both an economic crisis and, more seriously, a spiritual crisis. A year after the incident, Phuong is still sad but more optimistic: “I think being alive is something lucky.”

Before the accident, the 17-year-old boy, 1m70 tall, ran to a restaurant every day after school to learn how to cook. “Back then, I learned how to cook for 3 months and earned money to help my mother. I still think that after finishing high school, I will follow the path of becoming a chef for a famous restaurant or hotel”, beautiful memories rushed back to Phuong when recalling her old dream.

Having lost her legs and her dream of becoming a chef failed, Phuong was still determined to change her life: “I have to turn to learning about information technology.”

Receiving an old laptop from a relative, the young man actively read books and began to learn about programming and website design. According to that guy, this is the way for him to get out of the narrow bed every day.

Phuong’s whole family is still trying their best every day, hoping to have enough money to install a pair of prosthetic legs for her. That simple dream of the mother hopes to help Phuong’s life become less bumpy and enable her to walk on her own two feet.

More than a year has passed, Phuong’s accident record when she was hit from behind by a dump truck still has no conclusion. Phuong and her parents are still waiting for a final, fair, and satisfactory verdict from the law, even though the loss to the family was evident right after the fateful night more than a year ago. “I look forward to the final verdict of the court to give both sides peace of mind,” Ms. Binh said.