A Desperate Call for Help to Save the Life of a Little Girl!

“My daughter, Quynh Anh, will die before she’s three years old if she does not have surgery for her congenitally deformed ribcage”, said her mother with tears streaming down her face. To Mrs. Nguyen Thi Qua, her 2 year-old daughter is the most precious thing in her world. Yet, this mother is beside herself with despair because she has no hope of raising the amount of money needed for an operation for her daughter.


I first met this 2 year-old little girl, Tran Thi Quynh Anh, in the Orthopedic Dept. of the National Pediatrics Hospital. She was in a great deal of pain and crying after her recent leg surgery. I am sure that she suffers a lot of pain in both mind and body, and because she is only 2 years old, she doesn’t understand why she feels this way. I also can sense the empathy for her from the other patient’s families who are in the ward. You can see it in the expressions on their face when they hear Quynh Anh’s cries of pain.


Her mother, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Qua could not stop crying while telling me about her situation. She comes from a very poor family in Hung Yen province. They family has had more than its share of misfortune, the kinds of misfortune that lead to despair and hopelessness. She told me how both she and her husband are farmers who have struggled to make ends meet. 10 year ago, her husband suddenly became blind and could no longer work in the fields. For the last 10 years, Mrs. Qua must work twice as hard to earn a living and cover expenses for the family and take care of her husband.

In 2008, the couple had their first baby, a girl, named Quynh Anh. Sadly, she was born with a deformed rib cage. As a result, she suffers from various other ailments, and bouts of pneumonia. Now at age 2, Quynh Anh can not walk since she also suffers from a muscular disorder in both legs. So, every time the mother had to bring her daughter to the hospital, it cost a lot of money and takes up precious time – time that Mrs. Qua can not work to earn money to pay for the medical treatments. Also, Mrs. Qua had to borrow a lot of money from her relatives and neighbors for Quynh Anh’s needed surgery for her daughter’s legs. This time, she borrowed about 10,000,000 VND, ($535 US), at high interest, in order to bring Quynh Anh to the National Pediatrics Hospital for the operation.


So, with no money left, at each meal, Mrs. Qua has to go to all the other rooms in the hospital ward to beg for leftover food from the meals of other patients for herself and her daughter. All the other families in the hospital ward feel very sorry for them, so at each meal, they put aside a little food for both Quynh Anh and her mother. If you ever met Quynh Anh and her mother, you couldn’t help but feel compassion for the both of them.

At present, if Quynh Anh does not have surgery for her deformed rib-cage within the next few months, before she reaches the age of 3, she will die. Her mother is in a state of panic wondering how and where she can get the needed money for the operation. Mrs. Qua is weighed down with debt from previous treatments for her daughter and now doesn’t know if anyone would be willing to lend her money for this life-saving operation.


HSCV is hoping to help Quynh Anh receive an operation as soon as possible in order to save her young life. To all who read this, HSCV hopes you can find it in your heart to give a donation to help this young girl.

Please mail what ever you can give to:

Quynh Anh’s Surgery
c/o: HSCV
2956 Spring Lake Road
Prior Lake, MN 55372 USA

Credit card donations can be made on our website at
www.hscv.org

Blogged by Do Thi Thuy Hong- HSCV member