Father-daughter diagnosed with cancer; he dies sacrificing treatment for her medical bills

A father from China made the ultimate sacrifice -- to forego medical treatment in order to afford his daughter's medical bills. Both were, unfortunately, diagnosed with cancer one after the other.

On Sunday (March 10), Lianhe Wanbao shared the story of 21-year-old Sun Ying, a Henan Normal University student who was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2015.

Her diagnosis came after her father's own lung cancer which was discovered in 2014.

As the family were not well-to-do, her father decided against continuing treatment for his cancer in favour of Sun Ying's stem cell transplant required for her situation.

Eventually, his cancer metastasized and he died in December 2015.

30 CHEMOTHERAPY SESSIONS AND THREE RELAPSES

From 2015 to 2018, Sun Ying underwent over 30 chemotherapy and 20 radiotherapy sessions without giving up on her studies, according to Chinese media reports. 

Neither the school nor her peers were aware of her condition as she limited hospital visits to weekends so she could attend classes. Classmates only knew that she had to undergo surgeries and was frequently unwell.

Despite it all, she managed to achieve stellar results.

While the results of her hard work at school were great, her cancer treatments were quite the opposite.

The treatment resulted in the once petite 45-kg girl gaining 18 kilograms in the process and losing all her hair.

She also relapsed thrice within the three-year period and was close to giving up last year after lying in bed for five months with a 40-degree fever, requiring her mother to apply for extended leave for her from school.

That was how her teachers and friends found out about her condition, encouraging her to push on and donated over 100,000 yuan (S$20,000) for her treatment.

"After seeing everyone's efforts to help me, I do not want to give up. Even if I die, I cannot bear to leave my mother behind," she revealed. 

ANTI-CANCER DIARY TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS

One of Sun Ying's hobbies include drawing, and she decided to document her battle with cancer in a diary.

Through colourful comics which are later uploaded on Weibo, she shared her journey of being diagnosed as well as her subsequent treatment for cancer.

Sun Ying hopes to bring hope to other cancer patients like herself through the drawings, and encourage them to go through with their treatment.

Henan Normal University also shared her story and uploaded her drawings on their official Weibo account.

The fighter is currently still undergoing chemotherapy and waiting for her condition to improve before she can undergo a stem cell transplant.

We wish her a speedy and full recovery!

joeylee@asiaone.com