While working at a construction site in 2005, Thang accidentally touched an exposed high-voltage power line while installing a metal roof. The electric shock threw him six meters to the ground and left him in a coma for a month.
When he regained consciousness, he learned that doctors had removed all four of his limbs to save his life. Several more surgeries followed before they could stop the damage caused by severe electrical burns.
After four months in hospital, Thang returned home completely dependent on his family. His mother fed him every meal, while his father and older brother carried him whenever he needed to bathe or use the toilet.
Unable to accept what had happened, he spent his days facing the wall, refusing to eat and crying silently.
His mother, Ngo Thi Hong, now 74, still remembers holding what remained of her son’s arm and telling him: “As long as you’re alive, we’ll find a way.”
Those words became a turning point. “If I survived, I had to keep living. Even if I could never repay my parents, I didn’t want to become their lifelong burden,” Thang recalled.
After his wounds healed, he began the painful journey of learning to stand again. Without arms to help him balance, he relied entirely on his parents during months of rehabilitation, with his father supporting him from the front and his mother from behind.
Every fall reopened wounds on his amputated legs. It took six months before he was finally able to stand on his own.
Thang shares his story with a fellow amputee in December 2025. Image captured from video |
Two years later, Thang opened a small roadside stall outside his home selling mobile SIM cards and prepaid vouchers.
At first, he earned only a few thousand dong (VND1,000 = $0.25) a day, mostly thanks to neighbors who came to support him. But as Vietnam’s mobile phone market was rapidly expanding, he saw an opportunity.
His father drove him around Thai Nguyen Province to learn about the business, while Thang hired motorcycle taxis to visit grocery stores more than 100 kilometers away to find new customers.
His small stall eventually developed into a regional telecommunications dealership. The business not only allowed him to support his family but also helped repay nearly VND1 billion borrowed for his medical treatment.
Financial independence gave Thang the confidence to think about building his own family.
In 2009, friends introduced him to Duong Thi Thoa from Nga Son District in central Thanh Hoa Province. After a month of conversations, Thang and his family traveled to meet her.
His sincerity, optimism and determination to work despite his disability won the support of Thoa’s mother and older sister. However, other relatives opposed the relationship. Some warned she would suffer for the rest of her life, while others threatened to cut ties if she married “a man with no arms and no legs.”
“I wasn’t afraid when I saw him. I felt sympathy,” Thoa said. “The more we talked, the more I admired his determination.”
That admiration gradually became love. Four months after they met, the couple got married.
They later had two children. For years, Thang said, his wife was essentially taking care of three people at the same time: him and their two young children.
In 2011, six years after the accident, Thang took his first steps with prosthetic legs. Today, he can walk two kilometers independently.
Their two children, now in grades 11 and 3, also help take care of their father.
After demand for SIM cards declined in recent years, Thang searched for new ways to contribute at home. Using PVC pipes, he created simple prosthetic attachments that allow him to hold spoons, forks and cooking tools.
What started as a way to help his wife with household chores unexpectedly opened a new chapter in his life. Videos of Thang cooking without hands attracted millions of views on social media, creating another source of income through online sales.
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Thang and his wife celebrate their 17th wedding anniversary in June 2026. Photo courtesy of Thang |
In late June, Thang prepared a meal for his wife and two children to celebrate both his 45th birthday and their 17th wedding anniversary.
He described the moment as a chance to look back on his journey, comparing himself to a penguin that survives by learning to adapt.
In a video posted online, Thang, unable to hold a knife with hands he no longer has, controlled cooking utensils using the remaining part of one arm while pressing them against his cheek.
After more than an hour, he completed three dishes for his family.
“Looking at this simple but warm family meal fills me with happiness,” he said.
“The greatest gift in my life is my courageous wife — the woman who dared to hold the hand I no longer have — and our wonderful children.”
To mark their 17th wedding anniversary, he shared a photo of the couple with a message:
“I may not have arms to hold you or legs to travel the world with you, but I promise to use my mind, my heart and everything I have to protect you and our family.”
Thang cooks a meal for his family. Video courtesy of Thang Canh Cut
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