That student is Nguyen Chung Tu, a third-year student at the University of Natural Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City, and his “legs” are Ms Chung Thi Do, the mother who has carried her son to school for nearly 20 years.
A role model for overcoming oneself
Anyone studying in the Faculty of Information Technology at the University of Natural Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City is familiar with the image of a mother carrying her son up several flights of stairs into the lecture hall every day. The student has inspired many people’s admiration with his will to overcome fate, while the mother has moved everyone with her boundless love for her child.
Student Nguyen Chung Tu goes to school thanks to his mother’s “legs”
Nguyen Chung Tu was born plump, fair-skinned and healthy like any other child. At around 13 or 14 months old, when he reached the age of taking his first steps, his mother noticed something unusual. She hurriedly took him for a check-up, and the doctor said Tu had been exposed to Agent Orange through his father, and that this rare muscle weakness disease, found in very few cases in the world, would make it difficult for Tu to walk. Ms Do was stunned; for a mother, the stage when her beloved child takes his first steps is a boundless happiness, yet for her, that happiness was impossible.
Swallowing her tears, the mother still spent her mornings and evenings preparing all kinds of traditional and herbal medicines for Tu to drink, with the faint hope that her son would recover. By grade 5, Tu could no longer stand on his own two feet at all. Not only that, the disease was gradually destroying the strength in his arms, making it very difficult for the student to grip things.
Tu relies on his mother to care for all his daily activities and movement
From a young age, Nguyen Chung Tu loved studying very much; in primary school, Tu was aware of his circumstances, so for all 12 years of school he was an excellent student in all subjects. And throughout those years, his mother was his source of encouragement and will to live. There were times when the family’s circumstances were extremely miserable – poor, with his father ill from the after-effects of Agent Orange, and now Tu’s younger brother also showing symptoms of the same disease – and Ms Do more than once wanted Tu to stop studying, but seeing her son love learning and excel in all subjects, she and her husband could not bear to do so.
In 2010, Tu achieved an admirable feat by passing the entrance exams to two university subject groups. And to this day, Tu’s academic achievements have continued to progress at university. In the first semester of his first year, Tu scored 7.92, his overall score for the year was 7.2, and he received a scholarship from the Alumni Association of the University of Natural Sciences. These achievements were not easy to attain, and even less so for Tu and people in circumstances like his. In particular, alongside those achievements came the hardship and patience of his devoted mother, who loved her son dearly, taking him to school every day and, while waiting for him to study, working hard to earn money to cover living expenses.
Tu (centre) with friends in the Faith Club
In 2011, hoping to help many students with disabilities overcome their feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem and become confident in their studies and lives, Tu founded the Faith Club, which received widespread support. This is the foundation for students with disabilities in universities to develop. His dream after graduating is to set up a computer class to teach poor children and children with disabilities in his hometown, so they can become useful people who are confident and integrated into society.
However, Tu’s health is now weakening, and his younger brother back home is also beginning to show symptoms of muscle weakness. Another school year, with the burden of tuition fees and caring for the health of both brothers, continues to weigh on Tu’s mother’s shoulders. More than ever, Tu needs help from the community.
A small gift for a deserving person
Always caring about and supporting students’ lives, Ms Vuong Thi My Trinh – an officer at the Student Support Centre of the University of Natural Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City – has been close to Tu and helped him over the years. Moved by Tu’s resilience and understanding the circumstances of her outstanding student, Ms Vuong Thi My Trinh joined the programme “Because You Deserve It” hoping to bring back a large sum of money for Tu, so that he could continue studying until graduation, easing the burden on Tu’s mother and giving her more time to care for her son.
Ms Vuong Thi My Trinh decided to take part in the game show “Because you deserve it”
The tense rounds of competition
After five rounds, Ms My Trinh brought home 49,000,000 VND to help Tu cover his tuition fees and living expenses in the coming period. Given everything this young man has worked so hard to achieve, Tu fully deserves this meaningful gift.
Ms Do burst into tears when she heard the encouraging message from Ms Vuong Thi My Trinh
Tu and his mother, Ms Chung Thi Do, were deeply moved when they received this surprise gift
For all information on how to help, please contact:
Nguyen Chung Tu
Address: 967/355/11 Tran Xuan Soan, Tan Hung Ward, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City
Phone: 01672.051.815
Account: 711 A34 350 772
Bank: Vietinbank – Tien Giang Branch
Tuyet Thu – http://www.baodatviet.vn