From War to the Hospital

The story picks back up with an autobiography written by Lia’s older sister, May, detailing the family’s escape from Laos. The least first tried to flee in 1976 but were captured and forced back by the Vietnamese soldiers, during which one of their children died. Over the next few years, the family suffered greatly under communist rule and lost another child to starvation. In 1979, they attempted to escape again with hundreds of other Hmong and successfully reached refugee camps in Thailand. Once at the camps, Hmongs were educated about how to live in America, and a large majority of these refugees eventually immigrated to the United States. When some camps closed, many refugees faced difficult choices about returning to Laos, immigrating elsewhere, or finding other places to stay. Fatima includes this in the story to help the readers better understand and empathize with the Lees. She explains how May's autobiography highlights the strong cultural identity of the Hmong and their resiliency and determination to maintain their traditions despite centuries of pressure to assimilate. However, this deep commitment to preserve their culture sometimes created challenges when adapting to new environments, especially in the United States. 

After many years in the United States, Lia’s parents and many other older Hmong families continue to live almost entirely within their own traditions. They spoke Hmong, practiced their own religion, celebrated their holidays, and ate their traditional foods. Unlike many immigrants who move for opportunity, Fadiman suggests that the Reason they were so resistant to cultural assimilation is that the Hmong came to the United States to escape persecution, not adopt American culture.  Although immigration did cause many families to be separated, which made it harder for them to adapt and increased their feelings of anxiety and displacement after resettlement. At the same time, many Americans did not welcome the Hmong and often misunderstood or discriminated against them. What made assimilation even more difficult were the negative stereotypes, racism, and hostility they continuously faced. As more Hmong families move to places like California for job opportunities, communities such as Merced saw very rapid population growth, which led to some economic strain and increased competition for jobs, further increasing tensions between Hmong refugees and American residents. 

The story transitions back to when Leah returns from Fresno. Seeing Lia hardly alive, Peggy was heartbroken, and Neil, who is deeply involved in Leah's care, found it too painful to continue treating her. Meanwhile, Lia’s parents cared for her on their own terms by giving her traditional Herbal Remedies through her feeding tube. Because Peggy believed Leo would likely die soon, she allowed this, and instead of celebrating the Hmong New Year, Foau even brought funeral clothes, expecting her daughter's death. After Lia’s seizure, the tensions between the doctors and the leaves eased. Both sides finally had more freedom to care for Leah according to their own beliefs, but this cooperation came only after her condition became irreversible. Some conflicts arose surrounding Leah's parents asking for her IV medications to be removed and later wanting to take her home from the hospital. Peggy explained the risks, but ultimately respected their wishes to take her home, where her family continued caring for her. 

Now, at the age of 7, Lia had entered a non-responsive state, which her doctors called a “persistent vegetative state”. Fatima suggested that perhaps her soul really was missing and explained how days after Leah came home from mcmc her fever never dropped, her respiration became normal, and her gag reflexes came back. While her doctors believed this was the result of her decreased brain swelling, her parents believed it was a result of the Herbal Remedies they bathed her in when she left the hospital. During a routine checkup after her final seizure,  Neil found himself very emotional and broke down in tears. For him, he expected the Lees to blame him for everything that had happened to Lia, but Foua understood his remorse and hugged and thanked him. This kind of emotional display might have been exactly what Leah's initial treatment lacked.  Wrapped up in their own personal beliefs, Lia’s doctors and parents neglected to interact on a human level. Their lack of genuine connection could be the reason why it became difficult for them to create the kind of collaboration that Lia's care truly required.