Every day, we hear about real-life heroes who fight strongly against the challenges life throws at them. But once in a while, we hear a story, which brings tears to our eyes and surprises us.
Such is the story of 2-year-old Haihai.
Haihai was diagnosed with aggressive cancer, Leukaemia, in January of 2018. Since then, Haihai is battling cancer and has had some really tough moments. During Haihai’s cancer struggle, at one point, his platelet count was about 1,000. Platelets help our blood to clot and a normal range is 150,000 to 450,000.
But Haihai’s cancer has not been able to kill his will to live.
To get the right treatment, Haihai’s family even spent around 700,000 yuan (S$140,000) so far.
To make things worse, Haihai’s grandmother was also diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. But she sacrificed her own treatment to make sure Haihai gets the best possible doctors.
With the family struggling to cover the rising medical expenses of Haihai’s cancer treatment, his parents turned to social media to find some income. The 2-year-old instantly became an internet sensation with his “Chopsticks” skills.
Videos of 2-YO Haihai smoothly eating food with chopsticks are generating thousands of views on Kuaishou, a platform similar to Instagram.
From his favourite dumplings to noodles to pancakes, nothing seems to defeat the little Mr. Miyagi.
Haihai has displayed a remarkable talent with chopsticks. His account is mainly a food channel, but it also shows his struggle with needles and taking pills.
The heart-touching video by SCMP below summarizes Haihai’s cancer struggle beautifully.
Recalling Haihai’s cancer struggle, his mother shared:
“He always behaves when he has to have his blood drawn or have an injection, but he can’t help but be scared during lumbar punctures”
“After all, he’s just a little boy. No matter how strong he is, such pain is hard to take.”
Haihai has remained brave even through the most difficult steps of his cancer struggle – Lumbar punctures – where a needle is inserting into the spine for tests.
Sometime back, this 16-second clip uploaded a few months ago has racked up a massive 19 million views as many were seeking inspiration from this young soul to fight cancer.
As with many things on the internet, the authenticity of Haihai’s cancer treatment has been questioned by people.
But it is heartening to see people coming out in numbers to donate food, clothes, toys, and money for Haihai.
And this isn’t the first time that humanity came forward to save helpless babies and kids from the deadly disease. In another incident, 5000 people stood in a long queue in the rain to save a 5-year-old kid suffering from cancer.
The way Haihai has been able to generate funds for his own cancer treatment through social media is really commendable and brings tears to our eyes.
Cancer is not an easy battle to fight. Many of the cancer victims chose to struggle in silence because of the fear of being judged by society. But, now some bold souls are changing the mindset as they are starting a bold and beautiful conversation around cancer. And, our 2-year-old Haihai is one of those.