First Patient Story from Vietnam
We recently partnered with Mobility Outreach International to support clubfoot clinics in Vietnam. Our first patient story has arrived and we are happy to share it with our amazing donors and supporters.
Leading up to the birth of their son, Luong Thien An, Le Thi Nhung and her husband received assurance from doctors that their child would be perfectly healthy and born with no abnormalities. During her pregnancy Nhung went to the hospital for two antenatal visits, and felt confident about not going back to the clinic because the doctors there assured her that her son was in great condition.
Yet shortly after giving birth, Nhung and her husband said that their joy came to a sudden halt when they looked at their son’s feet.
“We were surprised,” Nhung said. “We have never seen this ever. The baby’s left foot was turned and the right foot was normal.”
Given that the family lives in Saigon and had their baby on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, many of the doctors there were on leave at the time. Nhung asked as many staff members as she could what her son’s disease was, until eventually a midwife at the hospital directed her to the Tu Du Obstetric Hospital.
Nhung took her son to this hospital on February 13, and was referred to the physiotherapy room there. There she saw many other babies with the same condition as her child. From there she was advised by a doctor who started treating her son’s clubfoot.
“The doctor told me that they would use the Ponseti method to treat my son,” she said. “ My child has been casted 5 times. After the fifth cast, I returned to the hospital and the doctor told my child to wear a shoe brace. After the fourth cast, I noticed that his legs had changed significantly from the beginning. My husband and I are very happy. At present, he is wearing his first pair of shoes.”
Though she was a bit nervous initially, Nhung said there were no problems during the treatment process. She is also grateful that she and her husband were able to meet and talk with other parents whose children were also affected by clubfoot. They each wish to thank everyone involved with the MOI clubfoot program for their son’s treatment and for how far he’s come already.
“We look forward to seeing my baby walk the first step,” Nhung said. “I hope he can run, jump and play normally like any other kid.”
