In the rehabilitation room, the 73-year-old American woman helped a patient tilt their head, stretch their arms, and bend their legs. Fifteen minutes later, she said, "Let's go," then supported the patient's back as they practiced walking along parallel bars.

For the past two decades, patients and medical staff at the Da Nang Traditional Medicine Hospital have become accustomed to the image of a "Western woman" sewing back braces, putting them on patients, and guiding them through each rehabilitation exercise.

"They have given me a happy life in Vietnam," said Lockett.

Virginia Mary Lockett and her husband at their home in Da Nang, 2024. Photo courtesy of the subject.

Virginia Mary Lockett and her husband at their home in Da Nang, 2024. Photo courtesy of the subject.

The connection between the woman from Virginia, USA, and Vietnam began in 1995. Lockett, a physical therapist, and her husband, David, an artist, wanted to adopt a child. That year, they were over 40 and had a 13-year-old daughter, making them ineligible to adopt domestically. An organization guided them through the process of adopting a child from Vietnam after the two countries normalized relations.

They flew to Nha Trang to meet their child. Near the end of their trip, upon learning that Lockett was a physical therapist, their interpreter asked her to examine his father's injury. His father had been hit by a truck, resulting in a fractured femur, complications from a stroke, and an inability to walk.

She realized that hip pinning surgery, a common procedure in the US, was not yet widely practiced in Vietnam. Neither the father nor the interpreter had any prior experience with stroke rehabilitation.

"That image stayed with me after I returned to the US and haunted me for 10 years," she said.

Ten years later, Lockett returned to Vietnam on a three-week volunteer trip with a US and Canadian NGO, working at the Da Nang Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital.

She didn't intend to stay long, but Da Nang's warm climate and friendly people made her reluctant to leave. At the hospital, she witnessed many patients lacking medicine and proper treatment, leading to poor recovery. The constant coming and going of specialists also failed to yield lasting results.

Back in the US, Lockett wrote to the Vietnamese embassy in Washington, D.C., inquiring about the possibility of an American physical therapist volunteering long-term at a public hospital. The embassy replied that it would be difficult without going through an NGO.

Virginia Mary Lockett assists a patient at the Da Nang Traditional Medicine Hospital, 2024. Photo courtesy of the subject.

Virginia Mary Lockett assists a patient at the Da Nang Traditional Medicine Hospital, 2024. Photo courtesy of the subject.

After many nights of contemplation, Lockett and her husband made what many considered a radical decision: They sold their house, quit their jobs, and flew to Vietnam on a one-way ticket.

But the first few months in Da Nang weren't easy. They entered the country as short-term volunteers for Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO), hoping to establish a long-term relationship with the Da Nang Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital.

The couple received no salary in Vietnam and were not yet 65, the age required to receive US social security benefits. So, for the first 10 years, they lived off the proceeds from selling their house, maintaining a minimalist lifestyle. Fortunately, Steady Footsteps contributed through physical therapy and rehabilitation expertise, so it didn't require much funding. "But life in Vietnam brought more joy than anywhere else," Lockett said.

Every day, while Lockett treated patients at the hospital, David stayed home crafting assistive devices, which he then donated. He made toilet seats to help caregivers, cut plastic tables to place on beds for patients to eat comfortably while sitting up, and designed cutting boards for women who could only use one hand to prepare meals.

Over 30 years in Vietnam, Lockett has treated and helped thousands of patients recover, but she remembers Nguyen Tan Hien most vividly. Hien, a fine arts student from Buon Ma Thuot, suffered a traffic accident in 2007, fracturing his cervical vertebrae and becoming quadriplegic. Not wanting him to give up his dream of being an artist, she encouraged him to paint, paying 10 USD for each piece to print on Steady Footsteps' postcards.

Initially, Hien tied his fingers to rubber bands, painstakingly making a few scribbles. The paintings were indistinct, but Lockett bought them anyway. During the three years Hien was in the hospital, she was his only customer. Touched by her support, the student persevered, practicing and switching to watercolors, eventually producing hundreds of paintings. Over 10 years later, the disabled artist has had his work featured in international exhibitions and sold throughout Asia.

"I'm happy because he opened a new chapter in his life on his own," she said.

Another case also made Lockett feel that her time in Vietnam was meaningful. At the end of 2017, a 66-year-old mother carried her son, who was in his 30s, to the hospital to see Lockett. He had been paralyzed in both legs after a spinal cord injury, with almost no hope of recovery. Lockett understood the situation but persistently worked on rehabilitating his arms and upper body.

After the first month of treatment with the American doctor, his legs began to move slightly. His mother stood stunned, witnessing what seemed like a miracle. In the following weeks, when he took his first steps out of the walking frame, Lockett turned away to wipe her tears. For the first time in years, the 66-year-old mother no longer had to carry her son from his wheelchair to his bed.

"It's these things that have kept me in Da Nang," she said.

Nguyen Thi Thuy, a physical therapy technician at the Da Nang Traditional Medicine Hospital, who has worked with Lockett for 12 years, said no one could do what she does without complete dedication.

At 73, with degenerating joints, Lockett is still willing to sit on the floor, bend down, and guide each patient as they learn to regain control of their bodies after strokes, traumatic brain injuries, or other impairments. Thuy has often seen her taking pain medication or rubbing oil on her back after assisting patients. In the afternoons, she sews back braces at home to give to patients.

"But I've never heard her complain of being tired," Thuy said.

Since moving to Vietnam, Lockett has only returned to the US twice, in 2007 and 2009, to visit family. Her husband, David, has always provided logistical support, taking care of the house, administrative tasks, and allowing her to focus entirely on helping Vietnamese patients.

"We have a peaceful life, surrounded by kind people," she said. "Da Nang has been my home for a very long time."

Ngoc Ngan