Hanoi (VNA) – A 12-year-old girl whodied on July 2 had decided to donate her cornea, becoming the third-youngest personto make such donation in Vietnam.
Nguyen Van Nhi took her last breath afternine days of treatment at the Hanoi-based Vietnam National Hospital ofPediatrics. Her death was caused by laryngeal papillomatosis, a rare medicalcondition in which benign tumors form along the aerodigestive tract.
Diagnosed with the disease at two years old,Nhi was last hospitalised on June 23 due to breathing problems and high fever.Her condition worsened, with doctors predicting she might not make it. Hermother decided to donate the girl’s cornea and this decision was supported bythe entire family.
The little girl agreed to donate her corneaon her hospital bed before losing consciousness.
Nguyen Huu Hoang, Director of the VietnamNational Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation, praised thedonation as a humanitarian act, saying Nhi’s cornea will bring light to others.
Earlier this year, Nguyen Hai An, 7, from Hanoi’s Nam Tu Liem district,before passing away in her K Hospital sickbed, decided to give her cornea topeople who could use it.
A survey by K hospital showed up to 300,000people need a cornea transplant, but only 100-150 people receive a cornea eachyear due to a national shortage of donors.-VNA
Some 4-8 million Vietnamese people are suffering from xerophthalmia – a progressive eye disease caused by vitamin A deficiency that can dry out tear ducts and eyes.
Nguyen Hai An, 7, from Hanoi’s Nam Tu Liem district, took her last breath on February 22. But before she passed away in her K Hospital sickbed, she and her mother agreed that she would give her cornea to people who could use it.
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After more than three weeks of intensive treatment, the patient's pneumonia improved, breathing stabilised, sedation was reduced, and the breathing tube was removed. He is now conscious, able to eat orally, and in recovery.
Nguyen Van Nhi (Photo courtesy of her family) 
