For 10 years, Tran Manh Cuong strived to lead a typical adolescent life, living with his parents and sister, hanging out with friends, and going to school, all without a left leg or a prosthetic device to replace it. Tran, now 24, got into a car accident on his way to take an exam at school and underwent an above-the-knee amputation on his left leg when he was just 12. It took a year for his wound to heal, but for the next nine years, he was unable to find a prosthesis to help him walk again due to financial constraints and because his family lives in a province far from any major cities. Despite all of this, Tran remembers skipping very few days of school and said his teachers allowed him to take his exams at home. Sitting in bed and recovering from the surgery, Tran passed with flying colors.

For 10 years, Tran Manh Cuong strived to lead a typical adolescent life, living with his parents and sister, hanging out with friends, and going to school, all without a left leg or a prosthetic device to replace it. Tran, now 24, got into a car accident on his way to take an exam at school and underwent an above-the-knee amputation on his left leg when he was just 12. It took a year for his wound to heal, but for the next nine years, he was unable to find a prosthesis to help him walk again due to financial constraints and because his family lives in a province far from any major cities. Despite all of this, Tran remembers skipping very few days of school and said his teachers allowed him to take his exams at home. Sitting in bed and recovering from the surgery, Tran passed with flying colors.

Loc has a stable job and a tight-knit family, but his new prosthetic device has given him something he had missed for the last eight years: the ability to walk and exercise without pain. Loc was run over by a public bus when he was 17 and after a lengthy rehabilitation process, he received a low-quality wooden device. “I tripped a lot and it hurts when I walked,” he said. After high school, Loc trained for two years at a university in Saigon to become a photoshop expert and now works the night-shift at a photoshop service company. He enjoys his job and the stability, but his health declined over the past several years due to the sedentary nature of his work. Eventually, Loc was able to find a much more comfortable device through a clinic that worked with Penta. With this new device, Loc is now able to walk and exercise when he is not at work, some days for up to 8 hours. Additionally, his new device has allowed him more comfort in other areas. “I am also more confident when I hold conversations in public,” he said. Despite how his accident changed his life, Loc has been able to form a close group of friends in the amputee community. They regularly meet up and exchange tips on using their prosthetic devices. While amputees still carry a stigma in Vietnam and often find themselves treated as pariahs, Loc has been able to open new doors socially through his disability.

Diem was on a road trip to purchase merchandise for her vending business when her motorbike was caught in the middle of a horrific collision that would alter the course of her life. Stuck in between two oncoming buses, I felt my right leg being crushed under the weight of the impact before I lost consciousness. In a country with more than 45 million registered motorbikes (and a population of 92 million), Diem’s story is unfortunately far too common. Motorbikes offer cheap transportation but little protection during collisions. Traffic accidents, particularly ones involving motorcycles, kill or injure tens of thousands of people across the country every year, particularly on the bustling streets of Saigon. These accidents are the leading cause of limb amputation in Vietnam. Luckily, Diem, at the time only 25 years old, was brought to a hospital within the hour and received an above-the-knee amputation on her right leg. That was twelve years ago. Since then, she has received her prosthetic care from Le Nam Clinic, a local clinic that works closely with Penta. However, due to the great financial burden of the prosthetic care, made worse by the lack of sufficient healthcare insurance and her inability to return to vending to make money, Diem has struggled to find decent quality prosthetic devices even with the support of her prosthetist. She attests that none of her previous devices fit comfortably and that her stump would become irritated whenever she had to walk long distances. When Le Nam began working with Penta, Diem was finally able to receive a light, comfortable, and durable limb at an affordable cost. “I feel really comfortable with this new prosthesis compared to the previous ones I had,” she enthused. “It is a great and positive impact on my life.”

• The impact, she notes, is both physical and psychological.
• “I feel more confident when I walk on the street. It’s like I’m walking like a normal person”
• Diem now spends most of her time at home, but not idly. With her newfound comfort and mobility, she has made her business much closer to herself for convenience, opening a little shop from home that sells various goods.

Hung lives with his wife and two children in Saigon, where they run a tailor shop out of their home. He makes two to three dollars per day and uses this money to take care of himself and his family. He lost his limb in 2016 and it took him a year to undergo the rehabilitation process and begin to regain mobility. His new above-the-knee prosthetic device, which was provided by Penta, allows him to smoothly maneuver around the tailoring machinery, and complete his work with the efficiency he had before his accident. Now able to walk on his new device, Hung says he hopes to his aid his family in their weekly charity work. His two children participate in charity programs for the homeless and bring food, which Hung’s wife cooks, to shelters around the city.