Grateful to be Mobile Again

In 1968, Toan was a volunteer helping to cultivate the hills near Phu Tho when a landslide occurred. The ground began to tremble, and stones big and small quickly raced down the hill. The young girl was soon buried under the rocks. When other volunteers managed to get her out, her leg had been badly injured, and she fell unconscious from the blood loss. Toan was quickly delivered to Thanh Thuy District Hospital, where she regained consciousness but was retained for her leg injuries. Even though the wounds were severe, everyone assured her that her leg would be fine. After a few days, she was transferred to Phu Tho Province Hospital, where she could receive better medical attention. Here she learned that her wounds were infected and that an amputation surgery was in order. When the doctors told her that she would lose her leg, she cried. "All my dreams were gone," Toan said. "I could not compare to my friends, who were free to go and do what they wished. I could not even work to earn my living anymore." She was only eighteen years old.

"It was during the war, so all the men became soldiers, and the women stayed behind and took care of the village," she reminisced. "We all volunteered to help with raising barns, cultivating lands, etc. No one thought about getting hurt away from the frontier. I didn't think I would, either, and when I did, my world was shattered." Although she was injured while doing service to her community, her wound was not from the battle, so she was not entitled to any compensation." War was a difficult time for all of us," she said, "There was not enough food to go around, not enough jobs to go around. I was living without a leg, and no one could help me. My parents were disheartened. Their two sons were off fighting and their only daughter had lost her leg." Toan said that her parents continued to encourage her nonetheless and, when she was released from the hospital, they bought her a sewing machine so she would have something to do to pass the time and earn money.

In 1970, Toan received her first prosthesis. She was overwhelmed with joy at the thought of being able to walk again. "I thought that learning to walk on my own two feet would be easy, but it was not. It was painful and difficult, and I often cried. People had to encourage me continuously, and I had to tell myself not to give up." With courage and determination, she learned to walk again. A few years later, she got married and started her own family. Her prosthesis allowed her to tend to every-day tasks around the house, but since she was not a veteran of war, she had to pay for it herself. Each time a replacement was needed, she had to stretch her budget to come up with the money. It was an expensive process, and Toan often had to put off having her prosthesis replaced.

In October 2006, the outreach team from the Prosthetics Outreach Foundation reached her village, bringing a prosthesis fitted especially for her. It was delivered at no cost to Toan and her family and, without the financial burden, she was once again able to enjoy the mobility gained from having a prosthesis. Today, she lives with her daughter, her son-in-law, and her two grandchildren in a small house in Phu Tho. Every day, her children go off to tend the crop fields, and she stays home to watch her grandchildren, air dry the corn, sew, and take care of the household. "While nothing can replace a real leg, being able to move around, being able to help my children and take care of myself gives me a sense of comfort, and for that I am grateful," she concluded.