“A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.” – Agatha Christie.
This quote is true for a woman in China who is divorcing her “heartless” husband after refusing to help out with their son’s medical bills.
According to a recent story from the South China Morning Post, an unidentified woman is divorcing her husband after he refused to sell their home to pay for life-saving treatment for their critically ill 22-year-old son, and now the story has gone viral on mainland social media.
The mother, whose son has a life-threatening, rare blood disease aplastic anaemia disease that was diagnosed in 2017, has been working tooth and nail to raise 1 million yuan ($144 000/R2.6m) needed for an operation to save her son.
Chronic diseases have significant health and economic costs. Aplastic anaemia is a disorder that develops when your body stops making enough new blood cells, according to Mayo Clinic.
You become increasingly fatigued and more susceptible to infections and uncontrolled bleeding as a result of the condition.
Aplastic anaemia is a rare and dangerous condition that can appear at any age.
Medication, blood transfusions, or a bone marrow transplant, sometimes known as a stem cell transplant, are all possible treatments for the disease.
The mother, reportedly from Fujian province in south-eastern China, has been working double shifts to cover the costs of her son's treatment in an attempt to save him. Despite working two jobs, her combined salary of $1 400 was not enough to cover her son's medical costs of 800 yuan ($1 100 a month).
To add salt to the wound, the couple was asked to raise money but were not able to do so. Further, the mother had to quit her two jobs to take care of her son’s deteriorating health. As a result, she wanted to sell her home, which she co-owns with her husband, but he refused to let her sell it.
She intended to sell the family house since there is no income coming in from the two jobs she gave up. However, her husband refused when she brought it up to him.
“He is going to die in half a year anyway, so there is no need to get treatment,” the husband reportedly told his wife. Amid the disputes, the husband eventually gave in and they sold their home for an estimated 1.8 million yuan (US$260 000).
As it turned out, he refused to pay for his son's medical care, reasoning that if it didn't cost that much, he would.
Whether it was his selfishness or her disgust at his willingness to play Russian roulette with their son's life, she ended up filing for divorce.
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