Positivity: Nun guides journey for Vietnamese victim of unusual head tumor

From San Jose, California via Vietnam:

Article Launched: 12/10/2007 01:30:42 AM PST

It has been part of Hoa Tran’s head since she was born, a tumor that grew ever bigger but somehow never killed her. She tucked it under a scarf or baseball cap and covered it with toilet paper because her family could not afford cotton gauze.
Year after year, whenever foreign doctors came to the Kim Long Charity Clinic in central Vietnam, her father would bring her there to see if they could help.

The answer always was no - until he met Sister Linh Dao in May.

The soft-spoken nun, an emergency room nurse at O’Connor Hospital in San Jose who had come to Vietnam on a medical mission, gravely examined the massive tumor spilling from the back of Tran’s head and wondered: Could her hospital help? Would local doctors donate their time? Could enough money be raised to bring Tran and her father to San Jose?

With a great deal of persistence and the help of an O’Connor administrator, Dao turned doubt into assurances.

Decisions were made with surprising speed, considering that Tran’s care and travel could cost up to $330,000: The hospital would cover her surgeries, without knowing the final price tag. Kiet Ha, the O’Connor executive, recruited a local plastic surgeon and a neurosurgeon willing to donate their services. Dao’s family would host Tran and her father at their San Jose home. Community donors would help finance airfare.

Now, in a matter of weeks, Tran will be rid of the bu’óu’ that has dominated her life for 20 years.

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