The surprising truth

In recent days, after posting a notice asking netizens to help find her birth mother, Nguyen Thi Suong, born in 1972, Nui Thanh Commune, Da Nang City, has kept her phone in hand almost constantly. Every call and message she receives comes with anxious anticipation.

As a child, Suong was often teased by friends that she was the adopted daughter of Nguyen Hoi, born in 1933, Tich Tay Hamlet, Tam Nghia Commune, Nui Thanh District, former Quang Nam Province, now Nui Thanh Commune, Da Nang City, and Nguyen Thi Le, deceased.

At times, the teasing left her hurt and even brought her to tears. Yet at home, she was showered with love by Hoi, Le, and her siblings.

"My parents loved me the most in the family, so much so that my brothers and sisters were sometimes jealous and questioned it. But as I grew older, I realized I was different from the others. I was small and underweight, while my siblings were all taller and bigger.

Even so, I never asked my parents about my origins. I was afraid it would make them sad," Suong said.

Hoi and Le never mentioned that she was adopted. Whenever someone asked or teased Suong about it, Hoi would insist that she was his biological daughter.

As a result, Suong grew up surrounded by love and never dwelled on whether she was biologically related to her parents.

However, a few days ago, Hoi gathered his children to discuss renovations to Le's grave. During the family meeting, he revealed that Suong was indeed adopted.

"When I learned the truth, I wasn't shocked, but I was very sad. At that moment, I felt an overwhelming desire to find my roots. I asked my niece to post information online and seek help from the community in finding my birth mother," she said.

Hoping to say “mother” just once

According to Suong, Hoi and Le possess almost no information about her biological mother.

During the family gathering, Hoi recounted that in 1972 he took his wife to a hospital in Tam Ky City, former Quang Nam Province, to give birth.

Le endured a difficult delivery, and the baby died shortly after birth. Devastated by the loss, the couple found themselves in deep grief.

At the same hospital, a young woman in her twenties had just given birth to a baby girl.

Because of her difficult circumstances and young age, the woman intended to give her daughter up for adoption. Sympathizing with her situation and grieving the loss of their own child, Hoi and Le completed the procedures to adopt the newborn girl.

Hoi obtained a birth certificate and named the child Nguyen Thi Suong. The couple raised and loved her as their own daughter and never allowed her to feel adopted.

Now in his nineties, Hoi has finally revealed the truth, hoping his daughter can reconnect with her origins.

He said that at the time, both the hospital area in Tam Ky and the family's hometown were located in a region heavily affected by war.

As a result, documents related to the adoption were lost. Hoi can no longer remember the birth mother's name or personal details.

He only recalls that the girl was around 20 years old, small in stature, and may have come from either Hiep Duc District or Tien Phuoc District in former Quang Nam Province.

"For more than 50 years, I have never known who my birth mother was. I have never seen her face or known whether I have brothers, sisters, or other relatives. There has always been an empty space in my heart reserved for my mother."

"If my mother is still healthy and happens to read these words, I want her to know that I do not blame her. I understand that she must have been heartbroken and forced by circumstances to make that decision."

"I only wish to meet her once, to know where I come from, and to call her 'mother' with all the love I have carried inside me for more than half a century," Suong said.

Ha Nguyen