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鈥淢y whole body is hurting so bad,鈥� Tina Diep says.

It鈥檚 a recent afternoon and Diep and I are sitting across from each other at a table in her Northwest sa国际传媒官网网页入口 home.

She鈥檚 lost weight since the last time I saw her 鈥� 24 pounds. She looks tired and subdued, characteristics unusual for someone whose life has been a testament to resiliency and determination.

I met Diep, until recently the owner of sa国际传媒官网网页入口鈥檚 Pink Ribbon Nail Salon, in June 2022 when I wrote a Journal article about the trips she took to her native Vietnam to give food, clothes, blankets, toiletries, toys, encouragement and more to orphans and others in need. That story also told about her amazing and moving meeting with her natural father and her campaign for breast cancer awareness.

On this day, she seems emptied out 鈥� just as her home soon will be.

Diep鈥檚 little service dog, Charlie, who has been resting contently on a bench seat by my hip, jumps up and barks at a moving-service employee who comes into the house. A moving van is in Diep鈥檚 driveway, backed up to the garage.

On the next day, she would be moving to Fort Worth with her husband, Joe Nguyen, her 15-year-old son Bryan, and Charlie. Diep was diagnosed with breast cancer more than six years ago and has been battling the disease since then. The family is moving to Texas so that she can be closer to her cancer doctor in Dallas.

鈥淚鈥檝e been crying so much at the salon,鈥� Diep says. 鈥淐rying as I say goodbye to customers and staff. I鈥檓 finding so much love around me.鈥�

Diep, 53, has already undergone a radical double mastectomy and chemotherapy. But three months ago, she learned her cancer had taken a turn for the worse. She will have surgery this fall to deal with a tumor in her stomach and cancer in her lymph nodes. After that, she will undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

鈥淚鈥檓 not upset because I have to go through this again,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 already knew (the cancer) was going to come back. I鈥檓 just hurt that I have to give up the salon. I loved everybody who came in there. I just want to thank them for coming to the salon. They helped me a lot with emotional support.鈥�

鈥楳iss her a bunch鈥�

Diep was born in central Vietnam to a Vietnamese woman and a young American serviceman who did not know he had fathered her. Given up at birth by her natural mother, she was raised by a Vietnamese couple until Diep and that couple moved to the United States when she was 15. She spent the remainder of her adolescent years and the first part of her adult years in Philadelphia.

She had Bryan and two daughters, Cindy, 33, and Michelle, 25, with her husband from a previous marriage. Diep and Nguyen met each other on Facebook when he was living in Fairfax, Virginia, and she was in Philadelphia.

Like Diep, Nguyen, 55, is the child of a Vietnamese mother and an American serviceman who was unaware he had a son in Vietnam. He has lived in the United States since 1983 and is a U.S. Air Force veteran who also worked in contracting for the government. Nguyen developed a skill for using DNA evidence to help people of Vietnamese and American heritage find their American fathers. He found his own dad, a U.S. Navy veteran, in Florida.

And he helped Diep find her father, an Army veteran who is married, the father of three adult daughters besides Diep and who lives in Rio Rancho.

Donald 鈥淒oc鈥� Carmichael, a Roosevelt County native, was single during his service in Vietnam. He married his wife, Keri, after he left the Army. Unlike many veterans in his situation, Carmichael reacted positively when he learned in 2016 that he had a daughter he had not known about. In December of that year, he and Keri flew to Virginia, where Diep and Nguyen were living, to meet her and embrace her.

Diep and Nguyen moved to sa国际传媒官网网页入口 in 2018, and they opened the nail salon in early 2019.

But now, she鈥檚 leaving. She has sold the salon and is selling her house.

鈥淪he鈥檚 a daughter and we鈥檝e only had her for a short time,鈥� Doc Carmichael, 72, said. 鈥淲e aren鈥檛 really losing her. But we can鈥檛 go to dinner with her. She can鈥檛 come over for our Sunday-afternoon barbecues. We are going to miss her a bunch.鈥�

Keri said she, too, is sorry Diep is leaving but relieved she is taking a break from work to concentrate on her health.

鈥淲e want what鈥檚 best for her and think she has made the right decision,鈥� Keri said. 鈥淭ina will be 12 hours away, but we are going to do our best to get to Texas and visit her.鈥�

鈥楳y baby鈥�

鈥淲ishing you all the best in your new journey. You have earned a little rest and relaxation. I will miss you more than you know. Love you!鈥�

鈥淵ou radiate beauty, Tina! You are beautiful inside and out. We wish you, Joe, Bryan and Charlie a good and safe move to the Dallas area. I鈥檓 sad to see you go but I know it鈥檚 the best thing for your health. Love you.鈥�

鈥淵ou are our hero and an inspiration. ... We love you and we鈥檒l definitely miss you.鈥�

Those are just a few of the messages Diep has been receiving from Pink Ribbon Salon customers, representatives of the more than 100 persons a day who visited the shop, people who are Diep鈥檚 friends and extended family, as well as her clients.

鈥淭hey have been sending me flowers, blankets, cards and well wishes,鈥� she said.

Diep鈥檚 salon attracted people who were themselves suffering from cancer or who had family and friends who were battling the disease or had been lost to it. They鈥檇 find comfort in Diep鈥檚 company and her upbeat demeanor, and she鈥檇 find solace in their presence in her life.

Pink Ribbon is the fifth nail salon with which Diep has been associated. The first four were in Philadelphia.

鈥淚n Philly, people came in, you take care of them, they pay you and that鈥檚 it,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ere we talk and share. A customer comes in and she is going through a divorce or breaking up with a boyfriend. They are down. I say, 鈥楧on鈥檛 be like that. One day you are going to look back and say why I cry?鈥欌��

Devoted to her customers, Diep would go to the residences of those confined to their homes and trim their fingernails and toenails free of charge. She lavished attention on the salon as well.

鈥淚鈥檇 wake up at five in the morning on a day the salon was closed and not find her,鈥� Nguyen said. 鈥淚鈥檇 look at the security cameras, and there she was, cleaning up the salon.鈥�

鈥淭he salon is my baby,鈥� Diep said. 鈥淓verybody knows that.鈥�

Back to Vietnam

Diep has been traveling to Vietnam for more than 10 years, going whenever she has saved up enough money to buy the things she needs to help people there. She was last there for three weeks in February, visiting orphans and the poor in a remote town in the vicinity of Nha Trang, a coastal city in southern Vietnam.

She wants to make another trip to Vietnam before her surgery.

鈥淏ecause I don鈥檛 know if I鈥檓 going to make it (through the surgery) or not,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just want to go to Vietnam, come back, get my surgery and then see what I can do. If I make it. If I鈥檓 doing OK, I will continue to go to Vietnam.鈥�

She said she is not afraid to die. But she鈥檚 not convinced that鈥檚 going to happen soon.

鈥淚 think God has a better plan for me.鈥�