Brother, I come to save your life (13)

Jia Xinyu is a 6-month infant who lives in a small village of east China’s Jining. He is too little to know that his family is suffering huge pain. Jia Xinyu’s brother Jia Mengde was diagnosed with leukemia last year.

Jia Xinyu was born to save Mengde. Their parents hope the little son’s cord blood can save the older son’s life. Luckily, the two brothers have matched blood type. So Mengde has chance to recover after his young brother coming to the world.

The family needs to buy a kind of very expensive medicine every month for Mengde’s treatment. The medicine imported from Switzerland costs 23,885 yuan a box and it is only enough for one month’s use. Expenses on drugs and treatments have put the family in a worse situation.

The family doesn’t have a stable income. The father works part time, and the mother looks after the two boys at home. To save money, they plant vegetables at backyard to supply the whole family. And they have to borrow money from friends and relatives for Mengde’s operation; the father had made bookkeeping for all the money he borrowed.

Since Mengde learnt he has blood cancer, he quit school, and became speechless and smileless. Maybe he should not bear too much pressure at this age. He prefers to read textbook alone and wants to go back to school one day. His father encourages him to be strong and optimistic; he believes their life will get better once Mengde recovers.

Edited and translated by Wang Xin, People's Daily Online.