Nguyen Thi Nga was Hai Duong province’s first person willing to donate corneas to others after death. That noble deed has urged many people to follow her.
Tens of thousands of people blinded each year extremely need cornea transplant
The thought of being kept intact after death has existed in the mind of every Vietnamese for generations. However, Nguyen Thi Nga in An Nhan Tay area, Tu Ky district town (Tu Ky), was Hai Duong province’s first person willing to register to donate corneas to others after her death. That noble deed has urged many other hearts to follow her.
Nga’s noble deed
At a ceremony to honor Nga’s noble deed co-organized right in her native land last weekend by the Central Ophthalmology Hospital and the Tu Ky district People’s Committee, many people could not help being touched when hearing Vu Thi Du, Nga’s mother, share her daughter’s wish in the last days of her life about cornea donation.
Spinal cord tumors forced Nga, a 9th grader then, to leave school and be confined to one place. Once hearing about a cornea donation program on the radio, Nga decided to bring light to others.
“She suffered pains caused by the illness in up to 10 out of 27 years of her life. On the sickbed, only her eyes remained limpid and brimful of love. She earnestly asked my family to assent to cornea donation, making us very poignant but ultimately fulfill her last wish,” shared Du.
Nga breathed her last at 10 pm on February 21, 2014. Her final wish was realized and the Central Ophthalmology Hospital performed operations to bring light to two people blinded by corneal diseases.
“Though unaware of the receivers of my daughter’s corneas, my family are very moved and somewhat comforted by the community’s sharing and encouragement for my daughter’s living energy and good deed,” emotionally said Du.
Hearing about the touching story of Nga, 12 other people in Tu Ky district have registered to donate corneas after death. Typically, To Quang Khue (64 years old) in Ky Son commune voluntarily registered to donate his corneas, tissues, and viscera to serve scientific research and help unfortunates.
Khue self-studied the issue and was informed by officials of the commune Red Cross Society that cornea donors, regardless of age, gender, or poor eyesight, even those with incurable diseases such as cancer, diabetes, etc. can still donate corneas after death.
“I have persuaded my family to let me donate corneas with a desire to still have a chance of leaving a little life to those less fortunate even when departing this world,” said Khue.
Vu Huy Quang (91 years old) in Minh Duc commune also voluntarily made an application for cornea donation after death without requiring any additional conditions.
More donors needed
In seven years (2007 – 2014), over 35,000 people in 13 provinces and cities across the country registered for cornea donation, including 210 people donating corneas after death (mainly in Ninh Binh), according to the Eye Bank and the Central Ophthalmology Hospital.
“Around 300,000 people with one or both eyes damaged in the whole country can recover if entitled to cornea transplant. The figure may increase by tens of thousands each year. With funding from abroad, the country currently can only perform the transplant for 100 – 150 people/ year,” said doctor Pham Ngoc Dong, Director of the Eye Bank, Dean of the Central Ophthalmology Hospital’s Conjunctiva and Cornea Ward.
NGUYEN THAO
Đăng ký: VietNam News