At just five years old, Hueha is a fun-spirited boy with a love for playing outdoors. He lives with his family in a remote village in Viengkham Province.

When Hueha started coughing and running a fever, his parents thought it was part of the “smoky season”, when the air is often thick with seasonal smoke from slash-and-burn farming during March/April and the time of the year when many children experience mild respiratory symptoms.

After a few days, Hueha’s condition had worsened; he became so weak, barely eating, and began to show signs of laboured breathing and difficulty to talk.

His parents took him to the district hospital in Viengkham. There, an X-ray revealed a serious condition: a bilateral pleural effusion, an abnormal buildup of fluid around both lungs. To make things worse, it had progressed into a spontaneous bilateral pneumothorax, both his lungs had collapsed, a severe life-threatening emergency.

The doctors in Viengkham district hospital knew they couldn’t treatHueha so they transferred him to a nearby hospital in Nam Bak Province, a 2-hour drive away. But once again, the severity of his case was beyond what the rural facility could handle.

With no time to lose, Hueha was again placed in an ambulance and sent on a long 4-hour journey to the only free pediatric hospital in northern Laos, Lao Friends Hospital for Children (LFHC) in Luang Prabang. Sadly, many ambulances in rural Laos still lack essential medical equipment, and so Hueha made the journey to Luang Prabang with no oxygen support.

When he arrived in LFHC’s Emergency Department, Hueha was in severe respiratory distress showing rapid breathing, low oxygen saturation, and visibly exhausted His condition had already progressed to a serious complication known as tension pneumothorax, where trapped air in the chest cavity cannot escape, further increasing pressure on the heart and lungs and worsening the collapse.

The Emergency team moved fast. A repeat chest X-ray confirmed the diagnosis: both lungs and now the heart were critically under threat. The medical team in the Emergency Department was able stabilized him by placing chest tubes in both his lungs to relieve the pressure, remove the air and fluid and allow his lungs to re-expand. He was immediately transferred to our Intensive Care Unit, where his fragile condition required round-the-clock care.

For four days, Hueha was closely monitored by our ICU team. With chest drains placed in both sides of his chest. This procedure, while life-saving, also comes with serious risks, especially when both lungs are involved. Hueha was at risk of infection, re-collapse, or further respiratory failure.

Every hour, nurses and doctors carefully checked his oxygen levels, adjusted his medications, ensured the drains were functioning properly, and responded to every small change in his condition. Slowly, his breathing eased. Repeat X-rays began to show signs of fluid levels dropping and his lungs starting to re-expand.

By day four, Hoa’s improvement was recognisable. He was talking to his mom again and asking for something to eat.

He was transferred out of the ICU to the Inpatiend Department, but his journey isn’t over yet. His road to recovery will involve weaning off supplemental oxygen, pain management once the chest drains are removed, completing his course of medications for any underlying infections, receiving nutritional support, and beginning gentle mobilisations. But his doctors are confident that his prognosis is excellent, and he's well on his way to healing.

Hueha’s story is a powerful reminder of the impact of free, quality healthcare. LFHC is the only hospital in Northern Laos with a dedicated paediatric ICU. Without it, children like Hueha would simply not survive. For families living in remote provinces in northern Laos, with few options, LFHC is not just a hospital. It’s a lifeline.