– Tien, have you done? Let’s go to the classroom.
– OK, Nga. I’m bringing along the fluid bottle to class now.
They went to the classroom, opened for child cancer patients at 2pm every Friday and Sunday, which covers only 25 sq.m. in the pediatric internal medicine department No. 3 of the Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital. No students in this class have to bring books or pens or wear uniforms. For taking lessons there, one child took required medication at noon, one brought along an intravenous fluid bottle, and the other adjusted her treatment schedule to not include the class days.
In this special class, bright smiles are always on their faces.
Sitting in a corner of the classroom was 13-year-old Le Van Tien from Thai Hoa ward of Tan Uyen town, Binh Duong province, with a quite new notebook, which bears the first lines written neatly on November 7: “I like going to school very much, if I have a wish, I will wish to recover soon to go to school so as to meet friends and other people.”
The boy with bright eyes was working hard on his maths sums, with a university student guiding him.
The little interpreter at the hospital
There were more than 10 children, big and small, in the class. Some were tracing letters, some were practicing spelling, and others were focusing on solving equations.
The boy knitted his brows and put his hand on his forehead. A hiatus for half a school year made eighth-grade equations challenging for him.
It was not until five months later that Tien had a chance to return to the class. He said: “Since I was found to have blood cancer, I have had to put off school to receive treatment. About three, four months ago, although I had to take medication at the department every day and fellow patients called one another to take lessons, chemical and bone marrow infusion prevented me from going to the class.”
In the last two months, as his health has improved and his hair has grown again, Tien has taken part in lessons at the hospital.
The boy is 1.60m tall and has a bright, smart face. Looking at him, no one would think he was a cancer patient.
He always brings books so he can read while undergoing treatment.
Tien said when getting involved in lessons at the hospital, like other children, he was shy at first, but then his desire to learn won. He described knowledge as a tonic helping him forget physical pain and cheer his family up.
Not only an industrious student, Tien has also assisted his teacher, Jessica, during English lessons.
At the pediatric internal medicine department, Jessica is a foreign volunteer teaching English to child patients at the hospital. Tien sometimes acts as an interpreter for her whenever her assistant is absent.
Therefore, Tien has become known around the hospital thanks to the optimism he has spread to fellow patients. Doctors see him as a little psychologist connecting them with the child patients.
Tien said in the past, when he still went to school, he always self-studied partly because his parents were manual workers and they didn’t have time to bring him to extra classes, nor could they afford to pay for them.
In the last two months, as his health has improved and his hair has grown again, Tien has taken part in lessons at the hospital.
“I think that saving 200,000-300,000 VND each subject per month can help my parents save money to repay the house buying debt,” he said.
Not all children can think in such a mature manner.
Tien’s academic results are impressive for anyone. He attained the “excellent student” title from the first to the seventh grade. His favourite subjects are mathematics and English.
“I think that saving 200,000-300,000 VND each subject per month can help my parents save money to repay the house buying debt.”
In the 2017-2018 school year he scored 9.9 in foreign language, 9.1 in maths, 9.5 in physics, 9.6 in biology and 9.7 in computing.
At the end of his sixth grade, he won an English competition in his commune. His school later sent him to a contest held by an education centre in HCM City, and he surpassed many peers to gain the Cambridge English starters certificate.
Tien treasured that certificate as an encouragement for him in learning and his treatment.
… Continuous fevers
On a December morning, Tien took chemical infusions at Room 301. That was his fourth chemical infusion period, and it took him hours to finish the process.
On the outside, his mother, Le Thi Huong – a 37-year-old woman from Ninh Hai district of Ninh Thuan province, recalled all that had happened to him recently.
She held the certificates and reports on her son’s academic performance which showed his remarkable results over the years.
At the sixth grade in the 2016-2017 school year, Tien obtained an average result of 9.3, standing third in his class. In the 2017-2018 school year, he averaged 9.4, giving him first place in his seventh-grade class.
However, everything had to be suspended when he was preparing to enter the eighth grade.
Huong said Tien was always a healthy boy who had never been sick since he was small. He suddenly caught a fever, and then he was found to have cancer, casting a shadow over his bright future.
That was in early July when Tien was on summer vacation.
On July 1, he suffered a prolonged fever. At first, she thought that it was just a minor illness and took a few days’ leave to care for him. Tien was examined at a hospital and received medication, but his fever did not cease. His parents thought he had dengue fever. His condition did not improve but got worse.
His mother brought him to different hospitals in HCM City to receive more check-ups. Meanwhile, their money was running out due to her long leave from work.
Although Tien took medicine, blood kept pouring out of his mouth and nose. He was later sent for examination at the HCM City Blood Transfusion and Hematology Hospital.
After an array of tests, he was diagnosed with blood cancer.
At that time, everything around Huong seemed to darken. She wondered why the horrible disease had afflicted her son, and she wished she could take his place.
“On July 13, the testing result showed that my son had blood cancer and had to leave school to receive treatment. Doctors said Tien’s disease was in the serious stage. After learning this news, all I could do was cry. At the time I felt the most hopeless, Tien encouraged me. Tien searched about his disease on the internet and comforted me,” Huong said in tears.
At that time, Tien was the calmest person in his family. It was not because he was young, but because his thinking was mature enough to face challenges in life.
His parents are workers at an industrial park in Binh Duong province. While his mother is from Ninh Thuan province, his father’s hometown was in Quang Nam province. They met while working at the industrial park and then got married.
After years of saving, they bought an apartment of about 50 sq.m. on installment payment. They used to feel at ease when their son studied well and they could work hard to repay the debt. But, since Tien was diagnosed, his mother had to leave work to take care of him.
Cancer treatment costs are a burden on even rich families, not to mention normal workers’ families. To care for their son, the parents have had to borrow money from friends and relatives.
The dream of returning to school
At the pediatric internal medicine department No. 3 of the HCM City Oncology Hospital, all doctors and patients were impressed by the 13-year-old Le Van Tien.
A doctor said Tien has to undergo nine treatment periods, and he is now in the fourth. Each of these periods lasts for about 10 – 15 days. The first period was the longest and most trying. He had to stay at the hospital for three straight months to receive blood, platelet and white blood cell infusion.
Huong often cries at night, pitying her son. She wished he could overcome the nine chemotherapy periods to recover.
Returning home after each treatment period, he was even more nostalgic for his school and classmates.
On days when his health condition is good, Tien’s mother often brings him to school so he can take some lessons with his classmates to ease his nostalgia. The mother sits on a bench in the schoolyard for one or two hours to wait for her son.
Huong said: “My son wishes he will get over the illness to return to school. He loves going to school. After many chemical infusion periods, he lost his hair. He cried, but he cried not because of the pain as he could withstand it, he felt embarrassed about the hair lost in front of his friends and felt sad about not being able to go to school. Recently, as less chemical have been used, Tien’s hair has grown again.”
The place where dreams continue
The special class at the HCM City Oncology Hospital was founded by teacher Dinh Thi Kim Phan almost 10 years ago. Not only teaching, her class has also inspired and helped maintain the dreams of child cancer patients.
Phan recounted: “In 2017, the ‘Dreams of Thuy’ programme was launched, and I took part in providing material support for cancer patients. Pitying the child patients having to stay in small hospital rooms and suspend their learning due to illnesses, I came to each room to teach them. During the activities at the hospital, hospital leaders realised the children’s demand for learning to read and write was high since they were at school age but unable to go to school. The Directors’ Board of the HCM City Oncology Hospital decided to reserve a 25sq.m. room in the modest area of the pediatric department to open a classroom. Therefore, I took charge of the literacy class.”
The class, opened on September 4, 2009, has welcomed thousands of children so far. There are about 20 students in each lesson, and the number of notebooks kept at this classroom totals about 500 – 700 at present.
On Tien, Phan said: “Tien suffers from blood cancer. He has received treatment here for five months. He learns mathematics and literature at this class. I teach him literature, through which he expresses the dream of returning to school and meeting his friends. In maths, Tien is assisted by university students. Tien studies well and is very industrious and obedient. He is intelligent, smart and open-minded. This is very valuable. I hope that his dream will soon come true, he can return home and continue going to school.”
Despite their diseases, the child patients are still nurturing the passion for learning and returning to school someday.
The pediatric internal medicine department is always crowded with patients, but people do not hear any cries from the children, who are used to having needles stuck in their arms for hours.
The child patients are still nurturing the passion for learning and returning to school someday.
When asked about his dream, Tien said: “I wish to become an architect, I want to study well to support my parents, and my biggest wish now is becoming healthy to return to school.”
There are role models like Tien everywhere, but how to find more of them is another issue.
To promote these exemplary people, the VietnamPlus e-newspaper and the Dutch Lady milk brand have sponsored the “Little Heroes” programme to encourage young role models nationwide.-VNA
