After initial hesitations, many people decide to donate their bodies to science and convince others to do the same, realizing the value of such an act.

Hoping to help their community even after they are gone, many body donors overcome the fear of being operated on after death, feeling that medical research and education is more important.

Stories from families

“Now my daughter is following in my footsteps,” Mr. Doan Van Nhan of Truong Tho Ward in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Duc District said proudly regarding his decision to donate his body. His daughter Doan Thi Bich Nha registered to give her body as well.

Nhan admitted that his family was more concerned than he was regarding his decision to donate his body; his wife consistently protested the idea for many years.

“I believe in cause and effect. I will surely be better after death if I can do good things for the community,” Nhan said, explaining his motivation to give his body to science.

The idea to do so came to him after a friend took him to an annual ceremony celebrating body donors held by the medical school Pham Ngoc Thach. He began to feel that his desire for a fancy gravestone was silly and selfish in comparison to body donation.

In 2009, he decided to register to donate his body to the Pham Ngoc Thach school.

However, his wife and family did not agree with his choice.

“That’s your decision. After you die, your children and I will make our own decision,” his wife said outright.

Not giving up, Nhan began taking his daughter Bich Nha to the school to attend donation ceremonies. After participating in the event, his daughter told her father and family that she also registered to donate her body to the school upon her death.

Partners of those who have donated their bodies to medical research often come to visit their loved one’s body after death and sometimes opt to donate their bodies as well so that they can be close to each other in death.

Mr. Le Van Quang (standing) at the funeral of his wife held at the Pham Ngoc Thach medical school (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Donating one’s body to honor life

Others donate their bodies after suffering major pain and illness, hoping to give scientists the opportunity to discover new ways of treating illnesses.

Mr. Hoang The Binh of the southern province of Binh Duong is one such donor, as he decided to donate his body after he was diagnosed with liver cancer.

He told his wife, Hang, “No one can escape death. It is best if I can be of use when I die.” Binh took a bus to Ho Chi Minh City medical university after being told he had cancer and registered to donate his body.

Lying in bed before he died, he said, “I’m donating my body so that doctors can study it and learn more about how to treat cancer. I am in pain and I don’t want anyone to suffer like this. Don’t take my body home until the doctors have studied it thoroughly.”

Hang said she respected his wish and only held a brief funeral after his death while his body was kept at the school.

Hang said she visited his body every month during the first year and knew he had made a wonderful contribution.

It was actually Hang who first encouraged her husband to donate his body: she registered to do so in 2001, and her husband did it in 2010.

“I thought about how we had no assets, no considerable contribution to the world, and no children. So what could I leave to give back to the community after my death?” Hang recalled. “I know I only have this body to give. I want to be useful even after death.”

Medical students are very respectful to the body donors, as they are their ‘silent teachers’.