Working extra to help his mother, Hoan suffered an accident that left him with a traumatic brain and facial injury.

Hoan's parents divorced when he was in 5th grade. Hoan has 2 younger siblings, his mother is Truong Thi Thuy, who is a worker in Lai Vu Industrial Park (Kim Thanh). The 4 of them live off Thuy's meager income of 5-6 million VND/month. "Every month I have to borrow money from relatives to have enough money for my children to go to school," Thuy said.

At the age of “not yet full, not yet worried”, when his peers are still carefree, only knowing how to study, Hoan already knows how to take care of his mother. For the past few months, he has been serving at a snail restaurant in Thanh Cong urban area. Every day, he works from 6pm to 12:30am the next day and is paid 20,000 VND/hour. After work, he goes home and completes his homework to go to school the next day.

On March 30, the restaurant was crowded, and Hoan was not allowed to return until 1:30. At the village gate, perhaps in a hurry, he fell and lost consciousness. Fortunately, people in the commune went to the market early, discovered him and reported to the commune police, and informed his family. "When I received the news, my legs went limp. When I got there, I saw my child lying motionless on the road and my heart sank," Thuy said emotionally.

Hoan was taken to the provincial General Hospital in an unconscious state. Doctors diagnosed him with a contused frontal brain, a fractured upper jaw, right cheekbone, and nasal bone. Looking at his bandaged, swollen face, Ms. Thuy sometimes regretted not being able to save her marriage with his father. “If I had kept the family together, he probably wouldn’t have had to suffer, work extra, and have an accident,” she said.

Hoan is now conscious, eating porridge and drinking milk. He was taken to the 108 Military Central Hospital (Hanoi) for treatment. “The doctors said he will have to continue treatment to stabilize, then undergo maxillofacial surgery. I am only worried that his education will be interrupted,” Ms. Thuy added.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Han, homeroom teacher of class 11I, Kinh Mon High School, said that Hoan is a good and obedient student. In grade 10 and the first semester of grade 11, he was the class monitor. However, recently, he has shown signs of decline, fatigue and sleepiness during class. Since learning of Hoan's accident, the school has organized donations, visited and encouraged him. "I hope he gets more attention in his studies," Ms. Han said.

According to Ms. Thuy, since Hoan had the accident, the family had to borrow 50 million VND to treat him. She does not know how much more the surgery will cost and whether she can borrow more. Besides working as a factory worker, she has no other source of income. The house she and her son own is now worthless.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhan, Party Secretary, Chairman of Minh Hoa Commune People's Committee, said that Ms. Thuy's family is in difficult circumstances and is in dire need of everyone's help. Please send all donations to account number: 030054865291, Sacombank, account holder is Ms. Truong Thi Thuy or contact phone number: 0987 356 524.