Children's Disease Information

In the early morning of April 4, 2015, the people of Sơn Tân market in Vọng Đông commune, Thoại Sơn district, An Giang, were startled by the frantic cries of a child for help. In the middle of the market, a man was tightly holding his young daughter, both engulfed in raging flames. Nearby, a plastic can of gasoline lay on the roadside. Although the fire did not claim their lives, the child suffered severe burns of 85% of her body, ranging from second to third degree burns. That child was Nguyen Thi Hong Tien, the result of an unhappy marriage between a young mother and a father who had long suffered from epilepsy. Tiến's childhood would have been as carefree as any other, had she not become the victim of her father’s desperate attempt to mend family bonds through self-immolation.

Following this horrific accident, Tien's once beautiful face was left completely disfigured: her facial skin sagged down to her neck, her lower lip was pulled tight to her chin, preventing her from closing her mouth, and the skin on her neck nearly fused with her chest. Additionally, the skin and tendons at her elbows fused, causing her arms to remain permanently bent and unable to straighten.

In November 2024, she will return for a follow-up consultation with Dr. Stéphane Guero to plan her next phase of treatment.