Chamalea Khang, born in 2012 and residing in Cong Hai commune, Khanh Hoa province, began experiencing dull chest pain in November 2025. Due to his family's difficult circumstances, Khang endured the pain silently. A month later, his condition rapidly worsened, leading to severe shortness of breath and chest pain. He developed respiratory failure, unable to lie down to breathe, and had to sit up even while sleeping.

The owner of the garment workshop where Khang worked helped arrange a bus for him to return home. He was examined at Ninh Thuan Provincial Hospital before being transferred to Children's Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City.

With no money for travel, provincial hospital doctors helped find a free ride, and benefactors donated 2 million dong for Khang's travel expenses to Saigon. His mother, Ms. Chamalea Thi Man, spent 500,000 dong to hire a nurse to accompany them, providing oxygen support during the journey. The remaining 1.5 million dong was used for food and milk for her son.

Khang was admitted to Children's Hospital 2 with severe respiratory failure, requiring NCPAP ventilation in the emergency department for several days before being transferred to the oncology department. After an extended surgery and nearly a month in the intensive care unit, doctors diagnosed him with hodgkin lymphoma, a malignant mediastinal tumor.

"When the doctor informed me my grandson had cancer, my hands and feet went numb, and I didn't know anything anymore," Ms. Man recalled, distraught, upon receiving the news. This disease has a mortality rate of up to 85% if left untreated.

According to the treatment protocol, Khang's planned course involves a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy continuously for six months. To continue the intensive treatment regimen, the patient was transferred to Hue Central Hospital from 30/6 to begin his first course of radiation therapy.

Due to the effects of chemotherapy and radiation, Khang's body was constantly hot, he developed deep mouth sores, suffered physical exhaustion, and completely lost his appetite. Living expenses in Hue were high for the mother and son; on average, daily expenses for food, milk, and other necessities exceeded 200,000 dong.

Khang has a health insurance card for near-poor households, but co-payment costs for medications and non-covered treatments throughout the process are estimated at about 30 million dong. This is an enormous amount, far beyond the family's reach.

Recently, doctors prescribed the first course of treatment, consisting of 24 radiation therapy sessions, and requested a 2 million dong deposit for hospital fees. Ms. Man scrambled everywhere but only managed to gather 500,000 dong to pay the hospital in advance. To date, Khang has completed 8 radiation therapy sessions, but the days ahead are filled with anxiety for his mother as their funds are completely exhausted.

Khang is currently receiving treatment at Hue Central Hospital. *Photo: Family provided*

The cancer has pushed Ms. Man's already struggling family into a dead end. The family is classified as a near-poor household in 2026, as certified by the People's Committee of Cong Hai commune. As a single mother, Ms. Man is the sole breadwinner, supporting her elderly mother and four young children through farming and collecting firewood, earning only about 5 million dong per month.

Feeling pity for his struggling mother, Khang dropped out of school after finishing fifth grade in 2023 to work in a garment workshop in Ho Chi Minh City, helping his mother support his siblings. Ms. Man urged her son to continue his studies, but Khang insisted, "Our family is very poor, I need to work to help mom support my siblings. Mom chopping five or six bundles of firewood a day isn't enough to take care of us." At the workshop, the owner provided food and lodging and paid him 2.7 million dong per month, which he sent home to help his mother.

When Khang fell ill, Ms. Man had to quit her job entirely to accompany her son to the hospital for care, losing her only source of income. Throughout their time in Ho Chi Minh City, she relied on charitable meals, support from the hospital's Social Work Department, and kind-hearted individuals in the same ward.

Difficulties compounded when, while caring for her son, Ms. Man contracted chickenpox and had to be isolated, relying on other parents in the ward to care for Khang in the intensive care unit. In their hometown of Ninh Thuan, her three young children were left with their frail grandmother, facing severe food shortages, making do with whatever little food they had, often just fish or fish sauce.

Currently, Chamalea Khang's treatment journey is still very long, but the family's funds are depleted. The recovery of the filial 13-year-old boy urgently needs the community's collective support.

Readers can join hands with the Hope Foundation to support Chamalea Khang and other disadvantaged child patients through the Sun of Hope program here:

Program name: Ten cua ban - Sun of Hope

Program ID: 22966

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