An honest dad who returned a wallet to a local farmer has received 200 tonnes of turnips as a reward which raised enough money for his two-year-old son’s bone marrow transplant.
The incident took place in the city of Jining in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong after the youngster was diagnosed with a rare blood condition known as Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH).
The two-year-old’s father Tang Shaolong was told that a bone marrow transplant was needed which would reportedly cost 400,000 RMB (45,230 GBP).
Meanwhile, the family had already paid out 200,000 RMB (22,615 GBP) in hospital costs and needed to borrow 120,000 RMB (13,565 GBP) from relatives.
When Shaolong was recently leaving the hospital to buy food for his son, he found a wallet on the street with 20,000 RMB (2,300 GBP) in cash as well as credit cards and ID.
He told local media: “To be honest, seeing so much money, I felt very glad. I guessed it was God, knowing I was anxious about money to save my kid’s life and that it might be a help to me.
“However, on second thoughts, I guessed that because the money was found near a hospital it must be life-saving cash for someone else.”
The honest dad returned the wallet to its owner, farmer Ding Yilong, but declined a fee for finding it.
Shaolong said: “If it was my salary for my hard work I would take it, but I just picked up other people’s belongings and returned it.”
The two men decided to keep in touch and Yilong saw on social media that the dad was trying to raise funds to help his son.
He told local media: “I had around 200 tonnes of turnips in my warehouse and I need to clear them out of stock before May.
“I decided to donate all these turnips to Tang Shaolong, and we could sell them together to raise money for the boy.”
The heartwarming story made the news and within two days all the turnips had been sold.
According to reports, their sale brought in 500,000 RMB (56,530 GBP) – enough to cover the costs of the bone marrow transplant.
The operation is expected to take place in about one month.
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Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: AsiaWire
