Mr. Be speaks about sudden inexplicable illness of over 40 years.

He was born into poverty, which gave rise to the need to follow his father to laboriously work for a living since he was little. He started his own family at the age of 26, and the tough life never left him.

On an afternoon in 1977, while working with others, Mr. Be, a heathy 27-year-old breadwinner, all of a sudden felt malaise and shakiness, and collapsed on the ground and fainted. He then was hospitalized and was unconscious for three days. Waking up surrounded by people, he was powerless to verbally respond to the attention given to him. He realized he had lost the ability to even utter a word, despite the longing to talk. He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote “want to chat but unable to produce speech”. He had turned mute.

One month of treatment in a Can Tho hospital did not identify the causes of his inability to speak. He still could hear and had normal health. Clinics in the newly liberated time when facilities weren’t at their best, and were unable to offer him extensive analysis as wished. His family had to earn living by making baskets to sell at the market. His three children were also needy and couldn't provide him with much financial support for a medical cure.

During 20 years of nonverbal communication, Mr. Be remained optimistic, thankful at least for being literate and having hearing. He tried to lead a normal life with no consideration of himself as disadvantaged.

“I gradually got accustomed to the sound of his clap every time he wanted to talk. After one short run when I got to him, he would start writing things down on a paper,” recalls Mai Thi De, 71, Mr. Be’s wife.

The worst was yet to come. On an October morning in 1997, during a coffee chat with friends, Mr. Be felt fatigued and ache in his shoulders, which caused him to go home quickly for a coin rubbing, but it didn’t help. After the therapy, he found himself losing his eyesight since the surroundings turned blurry, and he then collapsed into complete darkness. The doctors once again failed to help figure things out.

“It was absolutely unfair to me. Being mute and blind made me sick to my stomach. Hardly ever does anyone have the feeling of missing your loved one who is present in front of you. My mind ached to feel their touch, to hear their voice and their thoughts, to have a conversation.”

With massive support from family, Mr. Be has had a helping hand for the last 18 years.

Requests in the house got partially exchanged for debts along with treatment fees. No longer fearing death, he wanted to end his life. After he turned sightless, Mr. Be lost his hope in life. He had four walls that he locked himself behind. In case of suicidal thoughts, his family had to stash away all the cutlery and poison, including pesticides and kerosene.

On an August evening in 2001, four years since his blindness, Mr. Be, returning home from a shrine for full moon offerings, suddenly suffered a blackout. His house swiftly filled with a crowd.
“We instantly checked his breathing but he was unresponsive; given 30 minutes of first aid, he remained still with his eyes tightly closed, which led us to leap to a conclusion of death," said Le Van Truong, Be's neighbor, one of the first two people present when he went unconscious.

Embracing her husband, Mrs. De shed tears with the demand to get him hospitalized, but failed due to everyone’s assumption that he was gone. While the family proceeded with funeral planning, Be softly returned with flickering breath, leaving all petrified.

“I woke up watching my close ones sobbing, wondering what people were doing at my house, and spoke my mind,” he said.

Everyone was amazed that he regained his ability to see and uttered each person’s name after years of being blind and voiceless.

Rising from the dead with his speech impairment and vision loss healed, Mr. Be was euphoric to fulfil his promise to be philanthropic after he was cured. That was what he had recited in his mind during the long days of darkness.

None of Mr. Be’s acquaintances in Long Chau, Tan Loc ward, Thot Not district, Can Tho could envision a picture in which he was no longer impaired.

He joined a traditional medicine station in Thoi Thuan ward, Thot Not district, and was then sent to attend Traditional Medicine Intermediate School in Can Tho. After the course completion, he received a Diploma in Eastern Medicine and thorough knowledge of every medicinal plant in his garden. He could give medicine to people at the local Oriental Medicine Association. In addition to medicating people, he also participates in building houses, roads and bridges in the locality.

Mr. Be (left) and Mr. Nguyen Van Muoi (63) work as volunteers for a water cooking session for people with leaky heart valve in Thoi Thuan ward, Thot Not district.

Doing good is how Mr. Be kept his promise to himself when he could not speak. “I prayed to heaven for my dysarthria and blindness to be cured, I vowed to spend my lifetime doing charity to return that favor, " Mr. Be said.

Once every few months, he and his team take trips to Phu Quoc, Tay Ninh or Binh Thuan into the forest in search of herbal medicine to gift to traditional medicine clinics. His charity team of six is collecting money to rent five land plots with the price of 5 million VND per year to grow white lotus. White lotus, after being cooked, can help cure heart valve leakage and ischemic disease.

Doctor of CKI Traditional Medicine Nguyen Huu Truong (HCM City) said of Be's clinical death: “Mr. Be may have not been breathing for the first few minutes. Since there was no revival after 20 minutes of oxygen deprivation, his family without rechecking thought he was dead. As for his instant eyesight and speech recovery after the clinical death, science is the only key.”

Mr. Be at lunchtime bought himself some minutes to have a good look at the lotus pond. Briefly grabbing the key, he then drove away in his dear old car. His easy figure was fluttering under the gleam of sunshine. The license plate, loosened from its screws, clattered on the bumpy river road…

Thanh Nghi

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