How honesty and 200 tonnes of turnips are funding a bone-marrow transplant for a sick Chinese child
- Farmer and vegetable wholesaler who became friends over a lost wallet raise US$75,000 in three days to pay for life-changing operation for two-year-old boy
Honesty paid off for the father of an ailing two-year-old boy from eastern Shandong province after he returned a lost wallet to its owner, who offered him 200 tonnes of turnips to help fund a bone-marrow transplant for the child.
Tang Shaolong, a farmer from Jining, had taken his son to Jinan, the provincial capital, to treat a blood condition called hemophagocytic syndrome, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Tuesday.
Doctors said Tang Yixuan needed a marrow transplant, but while his father was a match he did not have 400,000 yuan (US$60,000) for the operation.
The family had already paid 200,000 yuan for care at a hospital in Jinan, 120,000 yuan of which was borrowed from relatives.
Fate took a hand at lunchtime on Friday as Tang left the hospital to buy food for his son. He found a wallet on the road containing 20,000 yuan in cash, bank cards, a business card and a driving licence.
“To be honest, seeing so much money, I felt very glad,” Tang was quoted as saying. “I guessed it was God, knowing I was anxious about money to save my kid’s life [and] that might be a help to me.