A dad in China started wearing a clown suit and selling balloons on the streets to earn money for his two-year-old daughter's growing medical bills.
Tu Xiancheng from Zhengzhou turned to this life after his daughter sustained severe brain injuries in Oct 2018.
According to reports, his daughter hit the back of her head after falling from the bed.
She had bleeding in the brain and was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The child also became partially paralysed and blind.
Doctors told Tu that his daughter needed long-term rehabilitation, which meant hefty medical bills.
And he cannot afford to pay for them.
Although his family is not well off, Tu has already spent 200,000 yuan (S$40,000) on his daughter's medical treatment since the accident.
Unfortunately, Tu has a health problem himself -- ankylosing spondylitis -- a form of arthritis affecting the spine.
When he saw his daughter suffering, the man decided to forego his own treatment so she could get medical help.
The pain prevents him from doing manual labour, so Tu thought of selling balloons on the streets.
[[nid:448960]]
To help ease the family's financial burden, a fundraiser has been set up by 9958 Child Emergency Centre and charity Chinese Children Association on Weibo.
The campaign targets to raise 500,000 yuan, and so far, members of the public have donated over 92,000 yuan.
Over the months, Tu's friends and family members asked him to give up caring for his daughter, saying she is a "lost cause".
But the desperate dad refused to listen to them, saying that he will not give up on his daughter as long as he is alive.
kimberlyfoo@asiaone.com
