Chien sits outside Phu Ninh Therapy Center exercising his crippled left hand.
This boy is walking because of you!
The boy never saw what hit him. It was a truck, backing up. In an instant, 6-year-old Chien was partially paralyzed on his right side from a break in one of his cervical vertebrae--a broken neck. Taking Chien's broken body home, it would be two years before he would see a doctor.
When Chien's parents began to search for medical care, they quickly exhausted their small income visiting one hospital and clinic after another. When their money ran out, they borrowed every penny they could from family and friends. Finally, the salary of Chien's dad as a farm laborer could bear the burden no longer. All treatments and therapy stopped with no more money to pay. Chien's condition deteriorated rapidly. He lost the ability to walk and to grasp simple objects. Confined to a wheelchair with diminishing mobility in his arms, Chien and his family resigned themselves to a bleak future.
BECAUSE OF YOU, CHIEN'S STORY DOESN'T END THERE. When you provided a physical therapy center at no cost to struggling rural families, you changed Chien's life. After a little more than a year of diligent work, he is walking again, and exercising daily to improve his strength and mobility. Now 13, he is determined to live an independent, productive, and happy life. You have given him those possibilities!