This Boy With Cancer Travelled 400km Alone Just To Ease His Family's Financial Burden
He is only 11 years old this year.
By Tang Ruxyn — 04 Oct 2016, 11:16 AM
This is Shi Luyao, an 11-year-old boy who is suffering from leukaemia. He has been travelling hundreds of kilometres alone in the last year for his treatment.
Since August 2015, Luyao has been making solo trips to the hospital from his hometown in Guizhou province in China to the hospital in Kunming, more than 400km away from his home, to receive the treatment on his own.
The child cried as he recalled his lonely experiences to the hospital to have bone marrow biopsy to monitor his situation, which was getting better.
"I wanted to cry, but I did not as I did not want other people to know I was all by myself," he said.
Each time after his therapy, Luyao endured the excruciating pain and went back home overnight to ensure that he will not miss a single class. He was determined to overcome those lonely hospital trips just to ease the financial burden on his family.
The boy had a rough start in life, abandoned by his own mother at the age of two
His mother reportedly left Luyao when he was just a toddler because of poverty.
Ever since then, he lived with his grandparents until he moved to the Anhui province when he was in third grade as his father was working there.
Things went downhill in 2013, when the doctors diagnosed him with lymphocytic leukemia
It all started when Luyao developed a high fever, which subsequently led to the diagnosis.
In order for Luyao's lymphocytic leukaemia to be cured, he needs to undergo long-term chemotherapy. Lymphocytic leukaemia is most commonly seen in children.
His father struggled to pay for Luyao's treatments but he made sure that he kept his promise that he would do all he can to save his son - so he took out 200,000 yuan (RM123,775) in loans over two years to help finance his son's treatments.
Two years later, in August 2015, Luyao returned to his hometown, Bengjing village in Liupanshui city in Guizhou after his condition got better.
Luyao was out of school for two years because of his health condition, but he made no excuses and never stopped learning
During the two years he was out of school, he borrowed books to go over the lessons he had learned before he was ill and the new courses of fifth grade on his own. After his condition got under control, the boy asked his grandparents to send him back to school.
"He looked very down and lonely, but he scored surprisingly good grades," said Peng Lu, the Chinese language teacher of Shi. Peng said the boy's grades have remained at the top of the class since he returned to school.
Each time he came back from the hospital, the boy would hand in his homework on time, she said.
The future looks a little brighter for the young Luyao as there has been some good news from the doctors
According to Luyao's doctor, the boy's treatment has entered the later stage, and he is making good progress. It is said that he does not need to rely on a bone marrow transplant to aid his recovery.
It was reported that his treatment is expected to take another two years.