Save a child from death's hand

After nearly 8 months of treatment at Bach Mai Hospital, a 5-year-old boy in Hung Yen has won the blood cancer, a cancer of the marrow is rare in children under 10 years old.

The disease is difficult to cure, the death rate is high, so doctors often give up, do not treat.

Last April, Ms. Thuy, Tuan's mother, saw her nose bleeding a lot, closed her nose and saw her vomiting blood. Too panic, she took her child to the provincial hospital for examination. But the doctors could not determine the reason, so she took her to a pediatric hospital in Ho Chi Minh City and the doctors told her to have M3 blood cancers.

"When I heard the news, my arms and legs fell apart. There was every son like that, my older sister was 10 years old and didn't see anything. Before that, I didn't have any unusual expression." Ms. Thuy said.

Do not believe my child is ill, an incurable disease cannot be cured, she and her husband take their children to the examination of almost all patients and oncologists for nearly 2 months. However, each time leaving a hospital, the desperation for her was even bigger.

"More and more, I feel my death sentence dangling from my head. Tia hopes to save me from being hopeless. Whether I go south or north, the answer is still 'incurable, I am weak.' " , Thuy said.

From these few days, the mother and daughter have been busy preparing to go home.Photo: NP

Even so, her family still tried to salvage, borrow money to take her to the hospital for blood transfusions, prolonging her life to any degree. Until, the doctors in Pediatrics, Bach Mai Hospital said they would try to treat her, she did not believe and did not dare to try.

"How many doctors in big hospitals say it can't be helped, should I try it? Should I spend more money without knowing whether or not I can get rid of it?" , the question makes the couple hesitant.

"But in the end, we decided to try and identify a loss first. The doctors even said 'during treatment, you can die at any time', but only then try it. once, bet your fate , " the mother recounted.

On June 8, 2009, Tuan went to Pediatrics Department, Bach Mai Hospital. Doctors try treatment in the first week. Thankfully, what doctors predict babies can die right in the process of treatment did not happen. However, the baby has side effects due to the use of chemicals leading to thrombocytopenia, reduced resistance leading to sepsis.

Dr. Nguyen Van Bang, deputy head of Pediatrics Department, Bach Mai Hospital, said that because of timely detection, after 2 weeks of treatment, the patient was gone. So far, her health has stabilized.

Afternoon 18/1, the baby was discharged from the hospital. After several months of treatment at the hospital, Tuan also gained 6 pounds. The boy who was new to the hospital also called for pain in his feet, tired, weighed only 17 kg, and laughed happily, running around the room.

"Anyway, I still find my family very lucky because I can save it. Having a room with my baby, there have been many families who are sorry to take me. I still have a day to leave the hospital." , Thuy has just laughed.

Dr. Bang also said that Tuan's illness is rare and hard to cure. The most common blood cancer in children is acute white blood cells, including 2 types: myeloid and lymphoid. In particular, lymphocytes are easier to treat because of the chemical sensitivity. And the myeloid line (or bone marrow cancer) only accounts for about 30% but treatment is difficult because of drug resistance, mortality rate is very high. Because of the prognosis of the disease so far, doctors often do not treat children with this disease.

"In particular, children under 10 years of age with myelosclerosis M3 as Tuan's children are more and more rare. Dangerous diseases in babies can die at any time because of coagulopathy, " Dr. Bang said.

However, recently, countries around the world have discovered this possible cure, with the use of all-trans retinoic acid (pre-vitamin A). This drug works to prevent the body from generating cancer cells, facilitating normal cell birth.

The success rate is extremely high, but mostly in children 10 and older, younger children are less common. In Vietnam, the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion is also curing, good results, but only in adults, Dr. Bang said.

"We had a lot of deliberation before we decided to try it because the risk of a child dying completely is possible. Being okay is okay but interfering with the child can die immediately. This is our first time. Successful treatment for a child with medullary leukemia ", Dr. Bang shared.

Your baby will have to continue treatment on a 6-month schedule, going to the hospital once a month for 5 days each time. The baby's condition has gradually receded, but according to the doctor, it is not known when the disease will recur because this is the first case. However, according to the documents, the disease may recur but later, there are cases of recurrence.

* The character name was changed