Father’s Attempt to Save Sick Daughter Slammed As Cyber Marketing

2016/11/30

Han Jing

An article written by a father, whose daughter is suffering from leukemia, has gone viral on China’s social media. But later it was being reported that it was part of an Internet marketing strategy.

Luo Er, who works as an editor-in-chief for a magazine in Shenzhen in south China’s Guangdong Province, ran the article on November 25 on his own WeChat account. He spoke of his helplessness and deep affection for his five-year-old daughter Luo Yixiao, nicknamed Xiao Xiao, who is battling leukemia and is under treatment at ICU.

Luo has written several pieces on WeChat about the family’s struggle with leukemia since Xiao Xiao was diagnosed with the disease on September 8. Xiao Xiao's condition worsened this month due to infection and the fees multiplied.

The article touched a lot of netizens with many of them raising funds for the family. The total clicks on the article surpassed 100,000 within half a day. Funds raised by web users have already reached the upper limit of 50,000 yuan a day on WeChat.

Luo denied it was a marketing attempt and said he had made an agreement with a company that he would earn 1 yuan (15 US cents) for every repost on the company’s WeChat account that took the Internet world by storm.

The company, whose owner is Luo’s friend, assured him that he would definitely get 20,000 yuan but it could rise up to 500,000 yuan.

But on Wednesday, there were posts online that claimed that Luo had two properties in Dongguan and one in Shenzhen and was not someone who needed help from charities. Another post claimed his daughter’s medical bill was covered insurance. His actual expenses, if any, would be less than 20,000 yuan.

Shenzhen Children's Hospital said on Wednesday afternoon that Xiao Xiao’s medical expenses totaled 204,244.31 yuan. The medical insurance covered 168,050.98 yuan. Xiao Xiao’s family spent 36,193.33 yuan on their own, accounting for 17.72 percent of the total expenses.

Luo told Beijing Youth Daily that he owned three properties. He claimed he could not raise money by selling his properties as he had brought them in 2015 and still did not possess the property ownership certificate, making any sales difficult.

Luo also denied an Internet rumor that he owned an advertising company.

Luo said the donation, reportedly touching 2 million yuan, would help cover his daughter’s medical expenses. Part of the funds would be used to set up a foundation for leukemia patients. He has agreed to return the donation to those who felt they had been deceived.

Shenzhen Civil Affairs Bureau said they were not involved in the donation.

Some web users commented that they hoped that the girl recovers despite the online disputes.

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Father’s Attempt to Save Sick Daughter Slammed As Cyber Marketing

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