Vietnamese toddler Phung Thien Nhan with Tran Mai Anh

Vietnamese toddler Phung Thien Nhan, not yet two years old, is a born survivor whose horrific story and cheeky smile have touched hearts and drawn offers of support from across the nation, and beyond.

 

Many people in south east Asia remember reading about Nhan in newspapers back in 2006 after he was abandoned after birth by his teenage mother in a  remote and poor central mountain area. Dumped outside the family shack and left to die, hidden under papaya leaves and bamboo, the newborn was mauled by a wild animal, most  likely a dog, that chewed off his right leg and badly savaged his groin.

Villagers found the boy, his pale and bloodied body crawling with ants. By the time he was taken by motorcycle to the nearest hospital, 72 hours had passed and yet, miraculously, the child survived.

Hospital staff amputated his leg at the hip and stabilised his condition, and visiting Buddhist monks named him Thien Nhan or “good person.” After two months local authorities, inexplicably, sent him back to his family, into the care of his grandparents.

The case disappeared from the news. Many people presumed the boy had died.
But Tran Mai Anh, a 35-year-old Hanoi journalist, couldn’t stop thinking about Nhan, tormented at night by visions of what had become of him.

Her worst fears would turn out to be true. When, after months of research, she tracked him down in December in his family hut, he was badly neglected, dirty, anaemic and suffering diarrhoea. She took him to a medical centre and, a month ago, adopted him, together with her husband and fellow journalist Phung Quang Nghinh. They took him back to Hanoi, where Nhan was treated for free at the French-Vietnamese hospital.

VietCot, a German-funded charity, hand-crafted a prosthetic leg, urgently needed to stop further damage to Nhan’s body — the first of many that he will need as he grows. His adoptive parents have contacted international hospitals about the plastic surgery and hormone therapy Nhan will need to lead a normal life.

News quickly spread in the media, on Internet forums and in offices. Many hundreds e-mailed and visited the family house in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, bringing toys, baby clothes and their own children to play with Nhan.

“Many people came just to have a look because they couldn’t believe he was alive,” said Mai Anh. “Everyone is offering to help. I didn’t know there are so many good people.
“One old woman from the countryside came and insisted on giving us the little money she could spare. She wanted to see Nhan before her eye operation, in case something happened and she couldn’t see him afterwards.”

Friends set up an online diary at www.help-thien-nhan.blogspot.com and an account for donations to help cover the child’s surgery and therapy bills, expected to run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

“His emotions still change, but he’s so much happier,” said Mai Anh. “Now he eats everything,” she added. “He’s getting fat!”