Ailing Man to Return to Vietnam for Final Days

His last hope for life was in the United States. So, with the help of a sponsor, Si Van Nguyen left Ho Chi Minh City for Orange County.

But the cancer had spread, and by the time he arrived it was too late. Penniless and with only weeks to live, he was stranded far from his family until the Little Saigon community united to help Nguyen return home to die. He will board a plane next week.

“There is no treatment for my illness, so I chose the last solution: to go back home to live my last days with my family,” said Nguyen, 54, who communicates in writing because throat cancer has left him unable to speak.

Hoping to find help through advanced U.S. medicine and technology, Nguyen left his wife and four grown children in November. He was sponsored by the Rev. Bao X. Nguyen, senior pastor at Saigon Reformed Presbyterian Church in Santa Ana, who has cared for him since.

“We don’t consider him a burden,” said Bao Nguyen, who is not related. “He’s a gift from God to give us a chance to help someone in need.”

Si Nguyen, who has difficulty breathing, lives on soft foods and liquids. The table in his cluttered bedroom holds four types of medication and massage oil. Letters from his family are stacked on a corner of the table.

To raise money to send the dying man home, the pastor made pleas over Vietnamese-language radio and took newspaper ads. He has collected about $20,000 to pay for the trip and his medical care when he returns home.

At first, neither Si Nguyen nor his wife wanted him to return to Vietnam. Their family there is poor, having neither money for his medication nor time for his care. He changed his mind when he found out his situation: He has little time left and would have to spend it in a nursing home or hospice.

“I am very emotional and appreciative with the love that my fellow countrymen and women offered me during my illness,” Si Nguyen said Monday. “I want to thank everyone. My dream of coming to America has come true. But I’m sad that I can’t stay.”