For most of her life, Tran Thi My Son knew what it was like to depend on someone else just to move from one place to another.
Born in Huong Thuy, in Vietnam’s Thua Thien Hue province, My Son developed enormous nerve-related growths in her lower limbs accompanied by severe foot deformities. As the condition progressed, her legs became so heavy and distorted that she was unable to walk normally.
For years, her 60-year-old mother, Pham Thi Dua, carried her from hospital to hospital, desperately searching for someone who could help her daughter.
But the severity and complexity of My Son’s condition meant that treatment was repeatedly considered too difficult.
Her mother continued carrying her for as long as she could.
Then, as Dua grew older and her strength began to fade, even that became impossible.
My Son was eventually forced to move by dragging her heavy legs along the ground.
Yet despite everything, the young woman held on to one simple dream — to walk again and one day be strong enough to care for the parents who had spent their lives caring for her.
“I only wanted the chance to live independently and give something back to my parents,” My Son was described as expressing.
That hope finally began to take shape when her case reached FV Hospital and renowned American craniofacial surgeon Dr. McKay McKinnon.
In September 2015, following an extensive evaluation, Dr. McKinnon and Dr. Vincent Blondeau led a highly complex operation to treat the condition.
The surgical team carefully traced and treated the nerves from which the growths originated, while also removing the enormous masses that had weighed down My Son’s legs for years.
It was a painstaking procedure designed not only to remove the existing masses, but also to reduce the possibility of them developing again in the future.
For My Son and her mother, the surgery represented far more than a medical procedure.
It was the possibility of a life that had once seemed completely out of reach.
For years, her mother had carried her daughter. Now, after the operation, the family could finally begin looking toward a future in which My Son might have greater mobility and independence.
Her journey had been filled with uncertainty, repeated hospital visits and years of physical limitations. But through it all, her greatest motivation remained the same: her family.
“I have watched my mother carry me for so many years,” My Son’s story reflects. “My greatest wish was to one day be able to stand beside her instead.”
After years of being defined by the weight of her condition, the young woman was finally given something she had spent much of her life longing for — hope, dignity and the possibility of moving forward.
