Burn, Vu Quoc Linh

In April 2011, an unprecedented incident happened and caused a stir all over Vietnam. An alcoholic father poured gasoline on his 3 years old son and lit a fire in a fit of anger during a quarrel with his wife. The son got fatal burns from the head to toes. The father was arrested by police, but the young Vu Quoc Linh had serious flame burn injuries on his entire body. He did not only have the scars from burns, but also lost 90% of the shapes of his ears and nose, and significant parts of his arms and legs were damaged. It was a miracle that he was still alive.He has underwent about 30 times of surgeries for skin flexibility, finger severance, finger joint and others with the help from the local people in Vietnam. However, there would be more problems as Vu Quoc Linh needed continuous medical care and treatment. Vu Quoc Linh’s mother only makes about $5 a month. It was not enough to pay for Vu Quoc Linh’s medical treatments.Korea Health Industry Development Institute met Vu Quoc Linh during the Vietnam Medical Charity Camp in 2011, and invited him to Korea in October 2012. JK Plastic Surgery Center was in charge of treatment. At that time, Vu Quoc Linh was unable to get skin transplanted because of the seriousness of his burns. “It is very rare to have a such young patient with burn scar contracture. He could not even extend his knees, which is supposed to control active movements, as it became too stiff. Even just walking was hard for him.” - HaeWon Baek M.D. of JK Plastic Surgery CenterThe medical team extracted Vu Quoc Linh’s stem cells and injected it after incubating the cells until the scars on his face softened. The results were satisfactory. Now, Vu Quoc Linh is curing his physical and mental injuries through psychological therapy with the generous support of his medical providers.