Macon Magazine

66 maconmagazine.com | December 2024/January 2025 Typically, Habitat for Humanity clients make a $1,000 down payment, donate between 200-400 hours of work during the construction of the home, and receive 20-year mortgages. "We set them up for progress," Goggin said. He talks fondly of the Tran siblings, noting that while the home they first occupied in 2001 and now own is paid off, that both Tom Vinh and Kathy May pay it forward. Both still donate money to Habitat on a monthly basis. The Tran siblings have followed their courageous mother in many ways. Their path includes following her into the healthcare field with astounding results. Her influence is unmistakable when they speak of her. "She was an immigrant woman. A single woman who taught herself English," Kathy May said. "God has truly watched over us. Even when things went bad, they were a blessing in disguise." Both the Tran children graduated from Houston County High School and like their mom, continued their education. Tom Vinh attended Mercer University and graduated from its pharmacy school. He is now a much appreciated pharmacist with Houston Healthcare. Tom Vinh doesn't have much free time these days, since he is married with two young children. Kathy May earned a scholarship to prestigious Yale University in Connecticut. After graduating from Yale with her bachelor's degree in 2009, she deferred her entrance into medical school because her mother was diagnosed with cancer. She also took another leave when Hue's condition worsened. ABOVE Crews work on a Habitat home on Orchard Way in Warner Robins. The school was empathetic as she cared for her mother. "I was really worried at first. But they were understanding." Kathy May said. "Our parents take care of us so much, so when it's our turn to take care of them, they should not feel it's a burden." She didn't tell her mother she wasn't attending the university but, according to Kathy May: "Eventually [Hue] got suspicious because I wasn't doing classwork anymore." She lovingly tended to her mother, but in 2014, Hue Tran passed away. Hue Tran's extraordinary life ended when she was just 55 years old. "Who we are is because of her," Kathy May said, referring to herself and Tom Vinh. "She was the kind of person who had big love, but she was humble and modest." After her mother passed, Kathy May returned to school, attending New York University's Grossman School of Medicine. She graduated in 2016, officially becoming Dr. Kathy May Tran. Dr. Tran did her residency at the prestigious Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, which is affiliated with Harvard Medical School. She completed her residency in 2019. Internal medicine is her specialty. "My job is there, but a few times a year I travel to other places," she told MM from Boston. Those other places are remote, where the need is great, and health care is scarce. Dr. Tran recently returned to Boston after a trip treating patients at the Maniilaq Health Center in Kotzebue, Alaska. The facility is in the second most remote hospital in North America, located above the Arctic Circle. "You can't do anything unless you have a stable place, and Habitat gave us that. We never felt like we belonged anywhere until we got our Habitat house."

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