For Nguyen Van Ha, as with so many Vietnamese of his generation, war has been an inescapable, looming shadow. Born during the Vietnam War, Ha would later serve as a soldier in the Cambodian-Vietnamese War and to this day carries the tragic memory of that service everywhere. During a march at nightfall in 1983, Ha stepped on a landmine, the detonation of which tore off his right leg. Decades later, Ha would be one of Penta’s first patients. Shortly after he was discharged from the Vietnamese military due to his injury, Ha moved to Ho Chi Minh City, where he has lived with his family for over 30 years.

“As a veteran, I was eligible for the state’s prosthetic care program. Nonetheless, my journey to regain mobility has been long and far from straightforward. The difficulty is walking.”

For several decades, Ha was forced to use an old, heavy wooden prosthesis that was ill-suited to the wet conditions present during the long rainy season in Vietnam. It was particularly inconvenient for work, causing him great trouble moving around for his job as a security guard at a Buddhist pagoda. Ha often had to drag the limb, a repeated motion that caused both back pain and damage to the prosthesis. His lack of mobility also prevented him from fulfilling his lifelong desire to travel and see the world.

When Penta began working in Vietnam, Ha was one of the first patients referred to us. Through our work with a local orthopedic hospital, he was fitted with a waterproof lower-limb device that was half the weight of his previous prosthesis.

“It’s lighter and better than the old device,” Ha said. “It doesn’t hurt. It is light, so it doesn’t interfere with my back problems.” He also praised its durability and stability. With the new device, Ha can climb the stairs of the pagoda and has resumed his job with vigor.

When we last spoke with Ha, he delighted our team with stories about his travels around Southeast Asia. Since being fitted, Ha has visited Indonesia, Malaysia, and Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam. We were most surprised and thrilled to hear that while on a scenic boat tour of the Bay, Ha even jumped into the sea, fully clothed and with his waterproof leg, to save a young girl who had fallen overboard!

As a veteran who has lived most of his life with a lower-limb amputation, Ha said he never thought he would ever be able to travel, let alone save someone from drowning, but with his new, trusty, lightweight prosthesis, he is living life to its fullest.

Moving around the clinic with her newly-fitted lightweight prosthetic leg, Men declared that she could truly walk, comfortably and unassisted, for the first time in 16 years. “I was in the hospital for a long period of time, for several years,” she said. She then received a free prosthesis from the Red Cross, but she did not have enough muscle strength to lift the device and move properly. Getting a more advanced prosthesis was out of the question due to her financial constraints, so Men went about without one. Through her friends in the amputee community, Men learned about Penta and reached out to our team. We referred her to one of our partner clinics in Ho Chi Minh City, where she was fitted with a below-the-knee set that we had provided to them. Like many of the amputees we work with, Men is amazed at the lightness and sturdiness of the titanium and carbon fiber parts compared to her old wooden leg. She can now walk around more easily and comfortably, and she says that the device has raised her quality of life both at work and at home. As Men and her husband are street vendors, mobility is key to their profession. Her new prosthetic device has allowed her to navigate the streets on which she works and the bustling markets in which she shops with renewed ease.

By all standards, Son leads an incredibly active life. At an early age he already owns a coffee store, where he spends his mornings serving coffee to his customers. After that, he walks for more than 10 miles to different coffee shops and sings for charity. In his spare time, he break-dances with his girlfriend. His daily routine is made all the more impressive by the fact that Son Vu has only recently adjusted to his prosthetic knee joints. Son lost his leg in the same manner as tens of thousands of others in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. He was sitting in the passenger seat of his friend’s motorbike when it crashed into another vehicle on the road. Upon regaining consciousness, Son Vu learned that his left leg had been amputated above the knee. With his whole family gathered around him in the hospital, he remembers stifling his cries to keep himself and others strong and positive. However, things began to change when Son’s doctor recommended him to Penta’s program. Soon after, he was fitted with a used but extremely high-quality titanium knee joint. After months of rehabilitation and relentless practice, Son began to walk again, ride his motorbike unassisted, and eventually, work on his own. He now runs a successful business and loves to share his story as an empowering message to others. He participates in Penta’s educational programs for high school students and serves as a spokesperson for addressing the social stigma against limb disability in Vietnam.