A year ago, Thuy Linh, 32, felt her world crumble when she was diagnosed with metastatic cancer on the day her son turned one year old. She had accidentally discovered unusual signs during a routine health check and arrived at Hanoi Medical University Hospital for a biopsy. The result was thyroid papillary carcinoma, which had spread to the lymph nodes. The team advised her to be admitted to the hospital early for surgery and treatment of the tumor.
The devastating news came on the same day that Linh’s son was celebrating his first birthday. As she imagined her child’s future milestones without her mother, her heart broke. Despite having a healthy lifestyle, regularly exercising, eating lots of fiber, and limiting sugar and fast food, Linh struggled to accept that she had cancer because she believed it was a disease of old age. However, after checking in three other hospitals, she received the same diagnosis.
When receiving the same results, Linh collapsed under the financial burden of cancer treatment. The doctor recommended targeted medicine, but it cost up to hundreds of millions of dong or even billions while health insurance did not cover it as it was a new medicine. Linh expressed her concerns about the financial impact of her diagnosis on aging parents in the countryside who she needed to support.
Similarly, Hai Anh, a marketing employee in Ho Chi Minh City was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer at the age of 30 and required surgery and chemotherapy. Growing up in a family of divorced parents, she longed for a suitable partner and to have children of her own