Vien kisses his wife, Helen

Helen Huynh and her family were devastated when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia this past February, one that required immediate chemotherapy until she could undergo a lifesaving stem cell transplant. Despite the grim news, there was a ray of light for the Garden Grove, California, grandmother of three: one of her three sisters in her native Vietnam was a perfect match.

But when Thuy Nguyen, Helen’s baby sister, interviewed with U.S. officials in Ho Chi Minh City, her visa was denied. Immigration officials claimed that because she had never traveled out of Vietnam before, they believed she wouldn’t return home after the transplant:

“Evidence may come in many forms, but when considered together, it must be enough for the interviewing officer to conclude that the applicant’s overall circumstances, including social, family, economic and other ties abroad, will compel him or her to leave the United States at the end of the temporary stay,” the letter stated. “Regrettably, Ms. Nguyen was unable to establish to the satisfaction of the interviewing officer that her employment, financial and family situation in Vietnam constituted sufficient ties to compel her to depart the United States.”

But Helen’s family says that officials cut Thuy’s interview so short that she had no chance to show that she has a family and businesses that she must return to in Vietnam. “She’s not poor, but that’s the mentality that these interviewers have,” said Yvonne AiVan, Helen’s eldest. “If you are from a less developed country, you won’t leave.”

When Thuy tried to make her case in another request, immigration officials denied her again. And then a third time.