Tuan is teaching mathematics and physics and hopes his lessons will help his students achieve high marks in all examinations.

A mix of sounds can be heard: students talking, chairs and tables bumping into each other . . . . when suddenly all is silent as the door opens.

A healthy man with a bright face confidently enters the classroom in a wheel-chair. All eyes look at him respectfully and the students stand up to say hi when the wheels stop. The lesson starts on time.

The man in the wheelchair is Le Huu Tuan, a private mathematics and physics teacher in Dong Son District, in the central province of Thanh Hoa. He helps many students attain high scores, especially in university entrance examinations.

When Tuan is mentioned, almost everybody shows their appreciation. In their eyes, he is a happy, disabled teacher with a considerable talent, a beautiful wife and a smart daughter that anybody would dream of having as their own.

His noble position today is the result of significant hardships in life, which became even more difficult when he lost the use of his legs.

“Nearly 20 years ago, when I was in second grade, my destiny turned a new page,” Le Huu Tuan said. “One day, I felt a lot of pain in my legs. My parents and I just thought it was normal pain, but the aches continued to get more and more serious.”

It finally became impossible to improve the situation. After five years going to many hospitals in Thanh Hoa and Ha Noi and two years of treatment at the Viet Nam National Institute and Hospital of Acupuncture, he still didn’t have a smile on his face.

“I will never forget how much my legs hurt when they were pricked with many needles while my parents cried outside. But the doctors finally said that I had an acute poliomyelitis and the poor facilities available at that time couldn’t help,” says Tuan. “Everything fell in my mind when I heard the news. Without a possible solution, we stopped and returned home in the worst mood ever.

“No one can imagine the long suffering we experienced,” Thi Thi Hang, Tuan’s mother, said. “Sometimes, I felt so weak and powerless. I couldn’t even sleep for praying for my son during the night.”

Tuan said: “I felt world-weary, I asked myself why God pushed me into this difficult situation. I was just a child. What would happen to me without my legs?

Sacrifices

“My friends were playing and working outside while I was sitting all day going through many useless treatments. But the more upset I got, the more I loved my parents because of the sacrifices they were making for me.”

Tuan’s story could seem to be very normal if a miracle hadn’t occurred. His efforts to overcome the tough destiny he faced were rewarded.

“I was forced to stay at home all the time, so I decided to find something useful to do. I thought I should study again,” recalls Tuan. “This habit gradually helped me to forget my pain.” After such a long time since Tuan had studied at school, it was quite difficult for the little child to study by himself. But incredibly, he finished the entire programme for second and fifth in only a few months.

And it didn’t stop there. He continued to study and asked his father if he could sit the primary education exam.

“I was half surprised and half nervous when my son asked me that. However, I still tried to meet his aspirations by talking with Luu Minh Tuy, the principal of Dong Thinh Primary School at that time,” Le Huu Thu, Tuan’s father, said. “The school sympathised with our situation and asked Long, a secondary school teacher, to evaluate Tuan’s knowledge.”

After completing the test, Long was amazed. “I couldn’t believe that this child could have gained so much second and fifth grade knowledge just by studying at home and in only several months. He could not only pass the final exam but was also able to participate in the communal Excellent Student’s Mathe-matics Competition.”

Tuan won first prize in competition and earned his primary education diploma with the admiration of his family, many teachers and students in Thanh Hoa.

“The grey cloud hovering over our family was lifting. Hang and I believed in life again,” Thu said. “Each night when I saw Tuan, my son, studying in the dark, I couldn’t keep myself from feeling moved. Tuan always said that he could take care of himself and he would be stronger with learning.”

Some years later, by studying at home, he finally passed the university entrance examination. Tuan studied for three years at Hong Duc University in the Information Technology Faculty. He also had the highest scores among the university’s best 15 students. He was then sent to Ha Noi to attend an extra class for excellent students at Ha Noi National University.

Tuan still couldn’t move his legs but this didn’t slow him down. Tuan and his father modified a Honda Chaly motorbike into a 4-wheel vehicle so that he could move around freely.

This modified motorbike was evidence of the growing love between Tuan and his wife Vu Thi Linh. “While we were separated, I travelled the 100km to visit my lover Linh, who is now my wife, two times per week,” Tuan said.

Opposed

Linh recalled: “When we first fell in love with each other my family and my friends opposed the relationship strongly. They thought Tuan wouldn’t be able to give me a happy life. But in the end I was able to convince them and I’m really happy and satisfied with my life now.

Tuan said: “After everything I have experienced, I believe that life never gives everything or takes everything.

“Sometimes I still wish that if could only walk again, maybe for just one day, I would really want to help my family with hard labour and play with my daughter,” Tuan smiles, and rolls away into class.

VietNamNet/VNS