A single machine could mean the difference between life and death for 64,000 premature infants born each year in Vietnam. With underdeveloped lungs, these babies suffer from a condition known as respiratory distress syndrome.

Thao and Linh’s son was one of those babies. The hospital where he was born did not have a ventilator to help him breathe, so he was rushed to a larger hospital better equipped to help him. When he arrived it was already too late. The doctors told Thao and Linh that their son could not be saved. Eyes welling up with tears, Thao remembered how it felt to let his baby die. “When they told me to sign the consent form to stop treatment, I could barely hold the pen,” he says. “I cried as I signed the paper. … Until the end of my life, I will never forget that moment.”

Thousands of stories like Thao and Linh’s illustrate the importance of immediate medical care for premature infants suffering from this syndrome. Often that vital treatment requires a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine.