Heart-wrenching article written on Lianhe Zaobao today:
In Anhui province in China, two brothers named 大胡 (Da Hu, elder brother) and 小胡 (Xiao Hu, younger brother) lived in poverty. Their results and character are outstanding and they are very lovable.
In October this year, Da Hu was diagnosed with a malignant tumour and Xiao Hu was diagnosed with leaukemia not much later. To cure these 2 diseases will cost hundreds of thousands reminbi (approximately between twenty thousand to one hundred thousand sing dollars). Their poverty forced the family to try to borrow money and their school embarked on a donation drive for their students, even the local government donated thousands of dollars, yet after final calculation, there's only enough for one person's treatment.
Both tried to give way to the other brother to get treatment and the parents were also in a dilemma. After some discussion, they decided to go by lot to let fate decide who to get treatment.
Xiao Hu who immensely respects his elder brother wrote on both pieces of paper "treatment" and asked Da Hu to draw the lot first. As expected, Da Hu was "chosen by lot" to go to Beijing for treatment. Before he left, he told Xiao Hu, "We'll still be good brothers in our next life".
The article ended with the question that life should be priceless yet the decision of life or death fell on the drawing of a piece of paper. Are the lives of poor people so cheap?
I will update this post as and when I come across information on how we can help/contact the brothers as directly as possible.
3 comments:
Is there any way to verify the story? In this day and age, and especially because it is the LHZB (and I may get sued for this comment if I'm not careful), it may be better to seek independent verification of the story before you do anything. After all, the story is quite gut-wrenching, so I suspect some other paper should have picked up on it in one way or another...
Sorry to puo leng shui.
Hi Hamster (TO Half OS)
Wow, fast response. *Very impressed* Think it was reported in some newspaper in Hong Kong and in China too, I'll check again when I'm back home.
Lianhe Zaobao not bad lah, it's the mainstream newspaper for the Chinese speaking population. It's the bagua (gossipy) newspapers that I'm wary of (and normally only the headlines are scanned if I even read them).
i'm surprised that the lot was conducted in such a biased manner, eg not having 3rd party write the lot papers, esp given that "both tried to give way to the other" and cheating at the lot would be such a convenient way for either brother to give way while at the same time save face for the other brother. having said that, it's hardly very face saving if the truth of what was done/how lot was truly decided becomes news/public knowledge... (but maybe i'm just being too sceptical and cynical :p)
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