At 5 AM, in a small shed in Van Tu commune, Trong Dinh began to light the stove for breakfast. He bent low, using his two arm stumps to tightly grip the handle of a cast-iron pot, lifting it onto the cooking grate. Sitting on the ground, the 23-year-old extended his left foot, his toes skillfully grasping a matchstick and striking it firmly against the box.

As the fire crackled, Dinh inserted his right arm stump into a hollow bamboo tube – a homemade "prosthetic arm" with a cleaver attached. His foot held the meat firmly on the cutting board, while he tensed his shoulder, using his body weight to push the blade. Thin, even slices of meat fell into the basket. Across from him, a phone mounted on a stand recorded his cooking process.

"The kitchen is where I struggle with my disability, but it's also where I find a reason to keep living. Every meal is like a dose of self-healing medicine," Dinh said.

Trong Dinh, 23, from Van Tu commune, Nghe An, cooking.

Dinh had an incomplete childhood. At the age of 4, he was orphaned, growing up under the care of his grandfather. In 2022, his last support passed away. Dinh then relied on the care of his aunt, Dang Thi Phung, 64.

Leaving school early, the young man saved every penny from odd jobs, dreaming of becoming a professional photographer. But in mid-2024, while doing electrical repairs for extra income, he was electrocuted by high-voltage power. Waking up in the hospital, the 22-year-old realized his arms had been amputated to save his life.

Returning home with empty sleeves, Dinh isolated himself in darkness. "At that time, seeing my aunt, over 60, come home from the fields and rush to cook for me, I felt like a useless person, I just wanted to disappear," he recalled.

In 6/2025, after a year of isolation, Dinh decided to learn to cook to share the burden with his aunt and try making videos for "healing." He asked relatives and neighbors to help build a small shed in the garden for a kitchen. The first dish he chose was eel soup – a local specialty. Without hands, he used his foot to hold the basket, pressed his chest against the basin's edge, and used his arm stumps to squeeze salt and rub the eels to remove their sliminess. Water splashed, stinging his eyes. When stir-frying, he struggled to pick up each piece of food with his two elbows.

"Dozens of times, food spilled onto the floor, and I felt helpless, wanting to throw the pot away," Dinh recounted. His first meal was completed after half a day of struggle. Although the eel was mashed and overcooked from being on the fire too long, it was a "sweet fruit" that pulled him out of the swamp of despair.

The difficulties extended beyond cooking. Being knowledgeable about photography and meticulous with every frame's movement, Dinh wanted to meticulously record his cooking process. He used his feet combined with his two arm stumps to adjust the height of the tripod. When editing videos, he used his stump to move the mouse and his toes to cut and splice. A three-minute video often took him an entire month.

Dinh's first video, titled "Cooking is always good even without hands," unexpectedly went viral on social media, attracting over 3 million views. Messages from strangers poured in. "Thank you for giving me the motivation to keep living," one stranger commented.

After more than half a year, Dinh's TikTok channel has nearly 200,000 followers. His first kitchenware advertising contracts, worth several million dong, helped him fund video production and support his aunt financially.

Ms. Dang Thi Phung still remembers her fear in the early days of seeing her nephew in the kitchen. Watching her disabled nephew face sharp knives and hot flames, she tried to dissuade him. But Dinh secretly waited for his aunt to go to the fields before lighting the fire.

"In the beginning, seeing the meal my nephew prepared, I felt both pity and worry. Sometimes the eel soup was mashed and overcooked; other times, the broth was too salty because he wasn't used to measuring spices with his arm stumps, and he cooked it for too long," Ms. Phung recalled.

Initial awkwardness gradually gave way to proficiency. The meals Dinh cooked became perfectly seasoned and more palatable. "Now, seeing my nephew happily bustling in the kitchen, finding his passion and smile again, I am very happy. The best meal isn't about the seasoning; it's about his will to overcome challenges," she said.

Trong Dinh rides his motorbike to the market to buy ingredients for a new cooking video, 13/3. Photo: Provided by subject

Now, the residents of Van Tu commune are accustomed to seeing the armless young man riding his modified motorbike on village roads, with a basket dangling vegetables and fish.

"Losing my arms was painful, but it taught me to appreciate what I still have. Every day I light the stove and work, I understand that I still have value," the 23-year-old said as his two arm stumps prepared ingredients for tomorrow's new video.

Nga Thanh