‘I hope my son dies before me’: 44 years after US-Vietnam war, Agent Orange victims are treating brain damage with painkillers

Every night for the past 20 years, Nguyen Thi Tai takes four white tablets before bed so she can sleep without pain. The painkillers and anti-epilepsy medication provide relief for the 32-year-old, who has brain damage and muscular dystrophy caused by wartime toxin Agent Orange. “If she does not take the pills, she will be up all night crying and knocking her head against the wall,” says Tai’s mother, Tran Thi Gai, 58, at their home in Vietnam’s poverty-stricken Quang Tri province. Four of…