VietNamNet Bridge - "Over the past 25 years, the aging disease has dogged and abused me. I feel like I’m imprisoned in hell on earth, living is worse than death,” said Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai, the 31-year-old woman in Hoi An town who has aged 50 years.

Ngoc Mai, 31.

One day in early August 2015, in a small house in Cam Chau Ward, Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province, Mai curled up on a worn mattress. Although she is just 31, Mai looks like an 80-year-old woman.

After cleaning the face of her daughter, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Mut, 55, Mai’s mother, said: "Since early 2015, my daughter has been getting weak very clearly. Her limbs are shriveled up. She cannot do anything. She even needs help to tidy herself up."

Mut said two years ago, thanks to assistance of benefactors and businesses, Mai went to Taiwan for treatment. She returned home with a younger face and her physical pain also decreased.

"At that time, I was very happy because she was able to care for her two children. But after the Lunar New Year 2015, the aging disease returned and developed quickly. Now, my daughter looks like an old lady. Some people mistake her for me," Mut said.

Lying in the dark room, Mai said before Lunar New Year 2015, she weighed 36 kg and she could do small housework chores. But now she is only 30 kg and she cannot eat much.

"Every night I can sleep for only 1-2 hours. Some days I am awake the whole night crying because I have unbearable headaches. My body is always itchy and in discomfort," she said.

Her dreams

The life of the family depends on the small grocery shop of Mai's mother on Tran Quang Khai road, Hoi An town.

Born into a poor family in Hoi An City, Mai has two siblings, all of them are healthy. However, Mai’s problems began when she was 10, with symptoms such as itching, hives, swelling, and weight loss. Despite treatment, her condition did not improve.

Some people advised her to try traditional medicine, and it seemed to work. Her facial skin showed signs of recovering, but her condition recurred in 2008 and has since been worsening. She also faced troubles in moving and other health problems.

Mai said when her disease broke out, neighbors and friends believed that she had HIV and they tried to stay away from her. She had to quit school.

When she was 16, Mai learned tailoring and worked for a tailor’s shop in Hoi An town for seven years. The shop’s owner fired her when her disease got more serious.

In 2005, Mai met a local, Tran Thanh Thuong, and married him. They have two children, who are in normal health. Huong is a motorbike taxi driver.

But her condition reappeared in 2008 and had since been worsening.

Doctors of the Da Nang-based Hoan My Hospital said that Mai suffered from chronic autoimmune urticaria, which is very rare and may be the first manifestation of lupus, which is particularly associated with the presence of autoimmune antibodies.

In March 2012, a charity organization took her to Taiwan for treatment. A group of 40 experts from 12 wards of the China Medical University in Taiwan treated her for Werne syndrome.

Mai's mother and children.

In over a month, Mai experienced different methods of treatment and plastic surgeries. She now can walk for a distance, without fainting.

Taiwanese doctor Hung-Chi Chen, from the China Medical University, said that Mai looked old because of the Werner syndrome, an autosomal recessive disorder, encrypted on her eighth set of chromosomes. He also said that she suffered from serious lung damage, which caused walking and breathing troubles as well as eye wounds.

The doctor said they used the patient’s belly fat to perform face surgery, which made Mai look much younger.

But only a month after that, Mai’s health began declining and her skin got itchy again.

Ten months after the trip to Taiwan, Mai’s condition was about the same as before. She began suffering from headaches and dizziness. She could not eat and was very tired. Before going to Taiwan, her weight was 34kg. After the treatment, she was about 36kg, and 32kg 10 months later.

Her condition has been getting worse since then.

Her oldest daughter is a third grader and her second son is a first grader. Both of them are normal and study very well. Since the disease returned, her family has moved to her parents’ house.

The life of the family depends on the small grocery shop of her mother on Tran Quang Khai road. Her husband is still a taxi driver but his income is very modest.

"Now I cannot do anything. We are too poor to have money to buy drugs for my disease. Other people have helped us so much, so I cannot ask for more from them. This is her fate!" said Mrs. Mut.

"I guess that my life will not be long. I only feel pity for my children. I don’t know if they are infected with my disease or not. I just wish to live a little longer so my children will still have a mother when they are young," Mai said.