At noon on Jan. 6, 2025, in the emergency department corridor of a major hospital in Hanoi, Linh had just finished a training shift. She reached for her phone and slipped it into the pocket of her white coat, a routine gesture that would become the last voluntary movement she made for weeks.

Moments later, dizziness hit without warning. Linh clutched a colleague's shoulder, her body convulsed and she fell into a deep coma, right where she had spent her days helping save other people's lives.

Scans revealed that a previously undetected cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a tangled cluster of abnormal blood vessels, had ruptured, flooding her brain with blood and sending pressure inside her skull soaring. Doctors rushed her into emergency surgery, removing a large blood clot and taking out part of her skull to relieve the pressure. The bone was preserved in cold storage, marking the beginning of a long, painful fight to stay alive.

Linh's recovery stretched nearly five months and took her through multiple hospitals from Hanoi to her hometown in Thanh Hoa Province. Infections and high fevers followed one after another. Only on May 8, 2025, did she undergo surgery to have the removed section of her skull reattached.

Before the stroke, Linh admits she lived the kind of life many young people see as normal. As a student, she stayed up late, showered at night and ate irregularly. She cooked lunch but grabbed whatever she could for dinner after working part-time from afternoon until late at night. Her family had no history of serious illness, and she ate lightly, avoided greasy food, and walked when she had time. Stress and the belief that being young meant she could push herself endlessly led her to ignore her body's warning signs.

"I thought stress was unavoidable. Everyone is stressed, whether they're studying or working, so I didn't think much of it," Linh said.

Her case reflects a broader and increasingly worrying trend. Studies published in The Lancet show that stroke rates among people under 45 are rising worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that this age group now accounts for about 15% of all stroke cases globally. In Vietnam, young patients make up roughly 5-7%, driven in part by chronic stress, urban lifestyles and undiagnosed vascular abnormalities, according to neurologists.

For 14 days in intensive care, Linh lay surrounded by machines and IV lines, kept alive at a cost of up to VND30 million (US$1,154) a day. Back in Thanh Hoa, her parents sold their cows and chickens and mortgaged their farmland to pay for treatment. Her two older sisters, both healthcare workers, put their own careers on hold, even quitting their jobs, to take turns staying at her bedside.

After surgery came the hardest part: rehabilitation. Once quick and energetic, Linh had to relearn the most basic functions, breathing, eating, speaking, walking, even numbers and letters. She is still undergoing therapy today.

Doctors say this outcome is tragically common. Only about 25-30% of stroke survivors regain the ability to walk and care for themselves. The rest live with varying degrees of dependence, and up to a quarter require full-time assistance. Linh falls into that majority, having to relearn instinctive skills like swallowing and speech from scratch.

The damage was not only physical. For someone in the prime of youth, losing independence and social identity can be devastating. Linh says she once spiraled into despair, seeing herself as a burden on her family.

"It hurts. At 22, the most beautiful age, I ended up like this. There were days I couldn't accept what had happened and could only cry," she said.

What kept her going was her family's devotion. Seeing her parents' sacrifices and her sisters designing exercises and buying rehabilitation equipment pushed Linh to keep trying, even when progress felt painfully slow.

Surviving the stroke changed her completely. She abandoned unhealthy habits, committed to daily rehabilitation and learned to listen closely to her body. She also reevaluated her relationships, discovering who truly stood by her in crisis.

"Stroke doesn't spare anyone, and health isn't permanent," Linh said. "Don't chase deadlines or pleasures so hard that you ignore your body's cries for help. A job can be replaced. A life cannot."

Subsidiary of VnExpress

License number: 71/GP-CBC, Ministry of Information andCommunications, September 22, 2021

Editor-in-Chief: Pham Van Hieu

Email: evne@vnexpress.netTel: 028 7300 9999 - Ext 8556

10th floor, Block A FPT Tower, 10 Pham Van Bach, Cau Giay Ward, Hanoi

© Copyright 1997-2026 VnExpress.net. All rights reserved.

\ Your messages *\ \

\ \

\ \