EXCLUSIVE
A mother who drowned in a Sydney river with two of her children struggled so badly with her mental health that she sent her one-year-old son to live with her parents in Vietnam.
Hoai Doan, 32, died on Saturday morning along with her eldest children Mitchell and Hazel, aged seven and five, when they became caught in a strong current at George’s River, near Shearer Park in Lansvale.
Bystanders tried in vain to save the family by jumping into the river and into boats, but the bodies were pulled from the water by emergency services several hours later.
Police are investigating how the family ended up in the water, with murder-suicide as one possibility. Daily Mail Australia revealed how the troubled mum struggled with bipolar disorder.
The children’s father, Dinh Nguyen, confirmed that his wife was taking medications for her condition, but they were not always effective.
Now her friend Anh Ha has opened up to Daily Mail Australia about the true nature of Ms Doan’s mental health struggles – including suicidal thoughts and desperate attempts to get them under control.
Ms Ha explained that their families often went fishing and spent time together at the site where they drowned.
Anh Ha is pictured left with Hoai Doan on a day out at George’s River in Lansvale. On Saturday, Mrs. Doan and two of her children died at the same spot
Hoai Doan is pictured with her son, Mitchell, left, and a friend, fishing near the wharf at George’s River
Hoai Doan, pictured in pink, and two of her children, Mitchell and Hazel, died on the dock Saturday
She said their last conversation was last Thursday, two days before the tragedy, when Ms. Doan said she was concerned about her health and finances.
“I wanted to call her to ask how she was doing because she was undergoing psychiatric treatment,” she said.
“She was in and out of hospital, so I wanted to talk to her and ask if she was okay.
“She said, ‘I’m so worried’ because she didn’t know how she would make money and because she was worried about her children’s future.”
Ms. Doan’s youngest son, Macario, is temporarily living with his grandparents in Vietnam because raising three children on one income, combined with her bipolar disorder, had been too difficult for the family.
Despite Ms Doan’s obvious concerns about her future, Ms Ha – who is a massage therapist – thought she seemed grounded and rational during that conversation and wanted to try to help her.
“I said I could teach her how to massage and book clients for her, and she was very excited and looking forward to it, but I told her to wait until I got back from Thailand,” she explained.
“I said I would do it for free and her husband supported me.”
She had no reason to believe Ms Doan’s situation was urgent, so she decided to spend her final days in Sydney with her own young children before embarking on her eight-day trip to Thailand.
Pictured: Floral tributes left at the spot where Mrs Doan and her children died on Saturday
The family were part of the local Vietnamese community in south-west Sydney
Vietnamese woman Hoai, 32, and her two children Mitchell and Hazel Nguyen, aged seven and five, (pictured) drowned in the Georges River on Saturday
On Saturday, Ms Ha was out with her children when a friend called her to tell her about the tragedy.
Despite speculation over whether it was a murder-suicide, Ms Ha insisted her friend would never deliberately hurt her children – if she was in her right mind.
She didn’t think the children knew how to swim and wasn’t sure why they would have been in the water.
“She was a kind person, very caring, she loved her children very much and she wanted to give them the best care, but I also think she can’t control herself,” she said.
‘People with mental illnesses have no control over themselves, but deep in her heart she didn’t want this to happen either.’
Ms. Doan did everything she could to stay healthy: she didn’t eat fast food, she was passionate about healthy eating and nutrients, and she dreamed of becoming a motivational speaker.
During mental health episodes, Ms Ha said her friend would talk “a lot” about how she didn’t want to live.
“People with mental health problems need a lot of love and understanding,” she said.
Hoai Doan is pictured holding a copy of Anthony William’s book in November 2022, which she encountered during her fourth hospitalization
Police are reportedly investigating whether the tragedy was a murder-suicide. The photo shows Mitchell and Hazel with their mother’s supplements
Emergency services rushed to the boat ramp at Shearer Park off Hollywood Drive, Lansvale on Saturday
“It’s not about telling them what to do. I heard a lot of people telling her that she was negative and how to do it, but they don’t need that; they need understanding.”
Ms. Doan ran a discount store for about a year, but it closed in 2022.
Daily Mail Australia previously revealed a number of social media posts made by Ms Doan that same year, detailing her interest in holistic healing following a number of hospital admissions.
Her attempts to resolve her mental health issues seemed to be largely based on a book called Brain Saver by a self-proclaimed “medical medium,” Anthony William.
In one post, a family member told her not to give up, to which she replied, “God won’t let me die easily.”
William, who does not appear to have a medical degree, claims that his medical expertise was given to him by a spirit at the age of four and that his connection to that entity allows him to cure illnesses – ranging from mild to severe.
The book promises to give readers answers to encephalitis, mental health, obsessive-compulsive disorder, brain fog, neurological symptoms, addiction, anxiety, heavy metals, seizures, Lyme.[‘s disease]ADHD, Alzheimer’s, autoimmune diseases and eating disorders’.
Ms. Doan’s posts, written in Vietnamese and translated into English, talk about her hospitalizations and how she started consuming “heavy metal detox smoothies” and drinking honey lemonade to improve her condition.
In 2022, she wrote about a time when she “lost control on the street and was taken away by an ambulance,” only to be released the next morning.
