A year ago, Thuy Linh, 32, felt her life was falling apart when she was diagnosed with thyroid papillary carcinoma on the day her son turned one year old. Arriving at Hanoi Medical University Hospital, the doctor requested a biopsy. The result was metastatic cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes. The team asked her to be admitted to the hospital early for surgery and treatment of the tumor.
The bad news came to Linh on the day her son turned one year old. She was devastated and could not accept that she had cancer because she believed that this was a disease of the elderly. Linh is a person with a healthy lifestyle, regularly exercising, eating lots of fiber, and limiting sugar and fast food. She told herself that it can’t be cancer, but after checking in three other hospitals, she received the same diagnosis.
When receiving the same results, Linh once again collapsed because the financial burden of cancer treatment was too great. The doctor advised her to use targeted medicine, but the cost is up to hundreds of millions of dong, even billions while health insurance does not support it because this is a new medicine. Linh expressed her concerns about the financial impacts of her diagnosis, especially with aging parents in the countryside who she needs 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 requiring surgery and chemotherapy. Growing up in a family of divorced parents