Last year, a pair of 7-month-old twins in Inner Mongolia, China, were diagnosed with congenital heart disease at birth and they’ve been in-and-out of the hospital ever since, due to their life-threatening condition.
According to Sin Chew, the mother of the twins, Xu, is disabled herself and things didn’t get any better either after she got married, because a tumour was discovered inside her husband’s brain.
Due to their tight financial situation, her husband had only undergone conventional treatment while they hoped that the birth of their new twins in September 2016 would bring joy to their family.
Sadly, just after three days, the twins started twitching and vomiting white foam.
After a thorough check at the hospital, the doctor only had bad news for them. Since the twins suffered recurring complications, doctors advised the couple to let the twins undergo an operation before they turn eight months, otherwise they would risk losing their lives.
To amass funds for the operation, the parents sold their house, borrowed money from friends and relatives, and even took up personal loans. Eventually, they successfully collected 20,000 Yuan (approx. RM12,000) but it was only enough to cover medical fees for the treatment and not the surgery.
With the operation deadline approaching fast, the parents literally went down on their knees to beg for donations on the street. Lady luck was on their side though, as they soon received enough funds from a charity organisation. Unfortunately, the amount was only sufficient for the operation of one baby.
Hence, the parents were forced to make possibly one of the hardest decisions of their lives, which was to decide which baby to save since they cannot afford the operation for both twins.
So they wrote ‘go’ and ‘stay’ on two sticks for the twins to draw lots. The decision was made when the elder brother of the twins grabbed the ‘go’ stick, which meant that he gets to undergo the surgery and live.
As they were running out of time, the couple quickly brought their elder twin to a child specialist in Shanghai, leaving the younger brother at the grandma’s home, who started crying non-stop as if he knew that his fate has just been sealed.
This heartbreaking story was soon picked up by the local media and garnered the public’s attention. Within three hours, donations from the public poured in and 800,000Yuan (RM500,000) was successfully raised. The parents then rushed to Tian Jing to meet up with the grandma before bringing the younger brother to Shanghai for the same operation.
Thanks to the generous donations from the public, the twin brothers can now have a second shot at life and grow up together.
Faith in humanity restored.
Also read: Chinese Woman Gets Pregnant After One Night Stand, Travels to Malaysia to Find Baby’s Dad