In May, Sung-il boarded a flight back to South Korea, marking the end of a harrowing yet hopeful chapter. For nearly a year, he had remained in FV Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, recovering from a hemorrhagic stroke that nearly took his life.

The journey back was emotional and nerve-racking. As the plane took off, Sung-il grew visibly anxious. A nurse from FV Hospital, who accompanied him, helped calm him with the aid of a Korean-speaking flight attendant. Upon landing, he was transferred to a local hospital in South Korea for continued care.

Sung-il’s ordeal began a year earlier when he was found unconscious in his apartment after missing work for two days. With no immediate family in Vietnam, he was rushed to FV Hospital where doctors, acting without next-of-kin consent, made the life-saving decision to perform emergency brain surgery.

He was later declared to be in a vegetative state. Weeks passed with no signs of improvement. His father flew in briefly from South Korea but left heartbroken, believing his son might never wake up.

But the Vietnamese medical team did not give up.

Over the next 80 days, doctors managed multiple complications and never left Sung-il’s side. Then, against all odds, he opened his eyes, and began responding to voices in Korean, English, even Vietnamese.

Slowly, Sung-il regained limited movement and began communicating through eye contact and hand gestures. Nurses bathed him, fed him, encouraged his therapy, and celebrated every small milestone. They became his surrogate family in a country where he had no one else.

Getting him back home, however, proved difficult. After living in Vietnam for 13 years, Sung-il no longer had valid Korean health insurance. Hospitals in South Korea initially refused to accept him. It took persistent efforts from the South Korean Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City to finally secure him a hospital bed.

When he learned he could return home, Sung-il was overwhelmed. With trembling hands, he scribbled down his email and phone number and handed it to a nurse: a simple, heartfelt gesture of thanks and perhaps a promise to one day return.

“He probably wanted to stay in touch and thank us in person someday,” said head nurse Chu Thi Nguyet Anh.

A representative from the South Korean Consulate later visited FV Hospital to personally thank the medical team for their dedication and compassion.