From a healthy, energetic person, Ms. Le Thi Quynh Nhi who is a teacher at the Le Khiet Senior High School for the Gifted in Quang Ngai Province weighs only about 36kg due to late stage 3 stomach cancer.

After gastrectomy, teacher Le Thi Quynh Nhi weighed only 36kg. In the face of the pain of illness, the love and encouragement of her pupils give her the strength to live.

In early October, Ms. Nhi went to a local hospital for medical checkup due to unexplained weight loss. Upon receiving the results, she was shocked to learn that she had late stage 3 stomach cancer.

“I think of my child because he is still too young. He is autistic so I don’t know how he will be able to take care of himself in the future” Ms. Nhi confided.

Currently, Ms. Nhi is undergoing chemotherapy according to the doctor’s regimen at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City with a total of 17 treatment sessions.

Currently, after two rounds of treatment at the hospital, Ms. Nhi had to have her entire stomach removed, leading to difficulty eating and drinking, so her health was exhausted and her weight is only 36kg.

The total cost of surgery, hospitalisation, and medication for the first two rounds was nearly VND 180 million. Of which, health insurance covered VND 60 million.

Ms. Nhi has a husband and a 7-year-old child who has had autism since childhood. Ms. Nhi said that she is the main breadwinner in the family. When she was healthy, her finances were quite stable. But when she got sick, the upcoming expenses could not be covered as she had to stop teaching to treat the disease. Each month, the cost of medicine, living expenses, and tuition for her children is about VND 30 million.

On her weak body, worries piled on worries. She was worried that she would not be healthy enough to complete all the chemotherapy sessions and was afraid that she would not be able to go back to teaching to have money to take care of her child. Along with the worries was the intense longing for school, class, and students.

Her pupils often come to her house and give her a spiritual gift of handwritten wishes, hoping that she will soon recover and return to the classroom.

"I wish you a speedy recovery, good health and strength. I hope you will always keep an optimistic spirit to overcome this difficult period and soon return to the 37 children of class 10T1", that is one of the wishes that the pupils sent to their teacher.

Ms. Nhi's biggest wish now is to maintain her current weight to have enough strength for chemotherapy, and her health will be restored so that she can continue to be with her small family, to hear the call "teacher" from her pupils.

To further motivate and help Nhi with more medical expenses, donations for Ms. Nhu can be sent to the Da Nang Newspaper via its account No 100214851000415 at the Da Nang branch of the Viet Nam Import-Export Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank) (please clearly state support for Ms. Le Thi Quynh Nhi).

Readers can also directly contact Ms. Nhi's family via phone number 0374715808 (Ms. Le Thi Quynh Nhi) or Nhi’s account No. 0271000361714 at the Da Nang branch of the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank)

Reporting by THU MAI - Translating by M.DUNG, P.TRA