The wife had been searching for her husband for 13 years after he had wandered off under the spell of a mental illness.
Nguyễn Ánh Tuyết, a Tuyen Quang resident, posted a video of a homeless man who frequently passed her home on her TikTok without thinking much of it. She was shocked when a woman from Phu Tho randomly saw it and contacted her, saying the man was her long-lost husband.
Đinh Thị Cường claimed via a Facebook post that her husband, Đinh Văn Phú, suffered from mental issues and left when their second child was only two years old. She says that she and her family had continued to search for him every year, but had thus far been unsuccessful.
After seeing the TikTok, Cường immediately contacted the Tuyết and asked the woman to verify if the man had a Buddha tattoo on his chest. When it was confirmed that he did, she traveled the 120 kilometers to pick him up and bring him back to his hometown.
According to Cường, Phú's mental health deteriorated following the birth of their second daughter. They sought out medical intervention from many hospital, but his problems persisted. Life at home was extremely difficult for her and the children as he usually broke things.
"One time, the house was in tact when I left for work, but when I returned, the house was in chaos as he climbed up and removed the rood," she reminisced. After two incidents like that, the family sent him to a hospice facility in 2008. He escaped after a few months and had been missing until the TikTok video.
Phú did not immediately recognize his wife nor many members of his family and was able to say only a few words in his native H'Mong language. After his first night reunited, he again took to wandering and was found 300 meters away on the road and brought inside.
[Image via Tâm điểm]
