Chinese Father Offers $1 Rides to Strangers to Pay for Son’s Leukemia Treatment

A man from the capital city of China’s Anhui province hit the streets to beg for money after his sick son’s leukemia treatment became too expensive to keep up. In order to collect the exorbitant amount needed to continue his son’s care, the father dons a horse mask and offers passersby a ride for 5 yuan ($1), according to Tencent.

The man’s young son was diagnosed with leukemia in 2011, and the chemotherapy treatment that sent the cancer into remission cost 200,000 yuan ($32,000). Unfortunately, the boy’s leukemia returned in 2011, but the father’s outstanding debt for his son’s previous treatment still stood at a staggering 160,000 yuan ($26,000).

Faced with impossible debt and his son’s failing health, the 38-year-old man now kneels daily beside a sign that reads, “One ride for five kuai. Good-hearted people will ride once.”

The man says that his efforts net him a few hundred yuan per day and have been humbling. In order to keep his son from finding out what he does, he hides his horse mask in a bag before leaving the house.

As Shanghaiist points out, this is only one example of the lengths family-centric Chinese citizens will go to in order to care for a sick relative. Earlier this year, the story of an 8-year-old boy who skipped his daily breakfast to buy lottery tickets in the hopes of saving his ailing father was reported.