Although the prospect of a stable job and a bright future awaiting her, Lê Dương Thể Hạnh's life took a drastic turn when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor,that robbed her of her looks, hearing, and sight. She could barely see or hear, but her adversity made her stronger and more passionate about life than ever before. The story of this resilient woman from Lam Dong, born in the 80s, is told in Station of Love, under the theme "There is a sun that never sets".
Thể Hạnh was born into a family of scholars in Lâm Đồng. From a young age, she possessed a beautiful face and excelled in her studies. "In 2003, I graduated from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City,with a degree in Oriental Studies, specializing in Japan. After graduation, I was hired as an interpreter at a Japanese company in the timber industry. Life seemed to be peacefull for me. In 2007, a storm hit when the doctor told me that I had a brain tumor. From then on, my life took a different turn," Thể Hạnh recalled.
After undergoing three surgeries and 27 radiotherapy sessions, enduring immense pain and prolonged agony, the third operation saved Thể Hạnh's life but permanently took away her eyesight. She also lost the ability to feel hot or cold, hungry or full, as constant eating caused her to gain weight.
For an interpreter, voice is indispensable, but now Hạnh struggles with pronunciation as her mouth is tilted to the right. From being a vibrant and energetic, a healthy young woman free to move around and do as she pleases, Hạnh depends on her family for every basic activity, and her romantic dreams of nearly a decade remain unfulfilled.
When adversity struck, Hạnh realized the intense love and care of everyone around her and bravely faced the truth. It was the desperate suffering that made Hạnh stronger than ever: "I realized that, in this life, death is easy, but living and thriving in difficult circumstances is the real challenge. No one is given everything by fate, and no one is robbed of everything. That's why I decided not to succumb to fate".
At the age of thirty, Thể Hạnh began to take her first steps again. Starting with the simplest of movements, gentle exercises helped Hạnh sit up, hold utensils to eat, and hold a cup to drink after days of agony to the point of tears. Day by day, the girl who was once paralyzed in both legs was able to stand up and lean against the wall to move. She hesitantly walked alongside her elderly father every afternoon in the primary school playground every afternoon, taking tentative steps towards life. What made her even happier was that after a long period of practice, Hạnh was able to make phone calls, send emails, and, most importantly, write books. And then everything began to change: Hạnh participated in community projects for the blind, created Vietnamese-Japanese Braille libraries and opened online English and Japanese classes via Skype for the blind.
With speech synthesis software for the blind, unable to walk, using a wheelchair to move around, with imperfect pronunciation due to the sequelae of 3 operations and 27 radiotherapy sessions for brain tumor, Lê Dương Thể Hạnh still writes stories and spreads optimistic messages. Nothing is easy, but Thể Hạnh has made it because she always believes that if you keep going, you'll get there, and if you try, you'll succeed: "I'm over 40, but I always feel like a child, living in everyone's love. To become who I am today, my efforts alone are not enough, but the love and encouragement from everyone is the greatest motivation helping me overcome everything". That's also why she titled her English book "The Sun of Love".
In 2015, the novel "The Sun That Never Sets" reached readers, recounting the journey of Thể Hạnh - a person who lived in the light for 27 years of her life but permanently lost the ability to see the sun after an incident named brain tumor. From "Bình yến sau bão giông" (Peace after the Storm), "Sứ mệnh của hoa" (Mission of Flowers), "Lặng thầm đưa khách sang sông" (Silently Ferrying Passengers Across the River), and most recently in 2023, "Hạnh phúc trong tầm tay" (Happiness Within Reach) released to readers on Vietnamese Women's Day October 20th, Lê Dương Thể Hạnh not only writes to express her soul but also to spread the energies of love. With 6 books written in both Vietnamese and English, Lê Dương Thể Hạnh has become an author cherished by readers nationwide.
Acknowledging herself as a bridge between two realms of light and darkness, Lê Dương Thể Hạnh - the girl who transitioned from the world of light to the dark world of the visually impaired - has strived to live the life of a broken instrument... "Even with just one string left, it still produces beautiful melodies". She cried a lot because of her cruel fate, but all that is in the past now. Lê Dương Thể Hạnh now always looks forward to a brighter tomorrow. She has only one wish: to live, to help those in more difficult circumstances than herself, to continue writing books that spread the joy of life and humanitarian messages. The gift from the Station of Love will give Lê Dương Thể Hạnh additional strength to continue her meaningful journey through life.
What happens when a protagonist of many meaningful and interesting stories appears on the set and brings something that makes the audience burst with emotion? The answer will be found in the Station of Love program, themed "The Sun That Never Sets", which will be broadcast on VTV1 at 10:00 AM on Saturday, March 30, 2024.
