Poor parents' devotion keeps son alive
Source: AFP |
February 1, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HER hands coarsened from years of pumping a homemade ventilator to keep her son alive, Wang Lanqin sat by his hospital bed this week watching as she learned how to use a modern ventilator donated by a Beijing company.
For years, Wang and her husband Fu Minzu took turns pumping their primitive device to help Fu Xuepeng, now 30, breathe, as they could not afford his hospital bills after he was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident five years ago. Their hands became deformed from two years of pumping the device thousands of times a day, media reports said, but their load was lightened after they built the crude mechanical ventilator with help from relatives.
The machine, which incorporates a plastic milk bottle, stood on tables held in place with slabs of rock and was connected by tube to their son.
Even after building the machine, to save on electricity the couple kept up their hand-pumping routine by day.
Media images prompted a flurry of donations to the couple who are from Taizhou City in Zhejiang Province.
These included cash and the ventilator. Fu is being cared for at a hospital in the city until his parents are sure they can operate the machine at home.
China has vastly expanded health insurance schemes in rural areas over the past decade, but payouts are still low, leaving severely or chronically ill patients dependent on family members to pay medical bills.
"We never think of giving up, not for one second," Fu said. "No parents would give up on their child as long as there is a slight chance of living."
For years, Wang and her husband Fu Minzu took turns pumping their primitive device to help Fu Xuepeng, now 30, breathe, as they could not afford his hospital bills after he was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident five years ago. Their hands became deformed from two years of pumping the device thousands of times a day, media reports said, but their load was lightened after they built the crude mechanical ventilator with help from relatives.
The machine, which incorporates a plastic milk bottle, stood on tables held in place with slabs of rock and was connected by tube to their son.
Even after building the machine, to save on electricity the couple kept up their hand-pumping routine by day.
Media images prompted a flurry of donations to the couple who are from Taizhou City in Zhejiang Province.
These included cash and the ventilator. Fu is being cared for at a hospital in the city until his parents are sure they can operate the machine at home.
China has vastly expanded health insurance schemes in rural areas over the past decade, but payouts are still low, leaving severely or chronically ill patients dependent on family members to pay medical bills.
"We never think of giving up, not for one second," Fu said. "No parents would give up on their child as long as there is a slight chance of living."
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