Helping Helen
Congressman Alan Lowenthal issued the following statement Sept. 27 on the announcement that the sister of 47th District resident Helen Huynh has been granted humanitarian parole by the U.S. government to enter the United States for 180 days to take part in a stem-cell transplant to treat Helen’s leukemia:
This is an incredible moment— to know that Helen’s sister Thuy Nguyen will soon be here in America, and even more important that Helen will soon be getting the stem-cell treatment that she so desperately needs.
I want to thank U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius and the State Department for their efforts to respond to our concerns and to the urgency of this humanitarian crisis. I also want to thank Ambassador Osius and his staff for their commitment to work with us to get Thuy to Helen as quickly as possible.
I also want to express my deep gratitude to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service for expediting the humanitarian parole process for Thuy and for granting the approval. They understood from the beginning the dire humanitarian need in this case, and they followed through with quick action.
Perhaps most importantly, I want to thank the Huynh family, whose faith and determination in a positive outcome never wavered.
Now that we know Helen, with the help of Thuy, will receive the treatment she needs, we should all take a moment and offer our best thoughts and prayers for Helen.
Lastly, I want to thank my colleagues in Congress who have remained steadfast on this issue and offered tremendous support: Congresswomen Barbara Lee (CA-13) and Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Congressmen Lou Correa (CA-46), Eliot Engel (NY-16), Ro Khanna (CA-17), and Ted Lieu (CA-33), and California Senator Kamala Harris.
