How powerful is a mother’s love? Sun Yuzhi, a single mother from Wuhan, provides a compelling answer. In 2006, her six-year-old son, Xie Tian, was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome. To treat her son, Sun Yuzhi exhausted the family’s savings of 30,000 yuan, visited major hospitals in Wuhan, and even traveled to other provinces for medical help.
To better manage her son’s condition, Sun Yuzhi, who only had a middle school education, bought books on traditional Chinese medicine, including the Compendium of Materia Medica, and taught herself. Whenever she had free time, she would go out with a shovel to dig for medicinal herbs, which she would then brew into medicine for her son. Under her meticulous care, his condition gradually improved, and he returned to school in 2013.
A single mother’s quest for medical help
Sun Yuzhi’s home is almost devoid of decent furniture. She says, “I work as a part-time cleaner at the Optics Valley Software Park, earning just over a thousand yuan monthly. All our savings have been spent on my son’s treatment.”
After divorcing her husband in 2003, Sun Yuzhi took on the responsibility of raising their child alone. In early March 2006, her son Xie Tian’s eyes suddenly became swollen. Initially, Sun Yuzhi didn’t pay much attention, but when his face also became swollen a few days later, she took him to a children’s hospital. The doctors diagnosed him with nephrotic syndrome.
To treat her son, Sun Yuzhi spent over 20,000 yuan on consultations and medications at various hospitals, including the city’s children’s hospital, the provincial traditional Chinese medicine hospital, and Tongji Hospital. However, his condition did not improve and even worsened, with symptoms like full-body swelling and blood in his urine. Some doctors even told her that the disease was difficult to cure and suggested she consider having another child.
With the community’s help, Sun Yuzhi decided to seek medical treatment outside the province. She bought a laptop to research nationwide hospitals specializing in treating kidney diseases. The mother purchased books like the Compendium of Materia Medica and the Illustrated Handbook of Common Chinese Herbs to learn about herbal medicine. Through extensive research, she discovered a hospital in Weifang, Shandong, that had a special method for treating her son’s condition. She arranged for him to take a leave of absence from school and took him to Shandong.
Declining donations and gathering herbs
When the school learned about Xie Tian’s situation, they planned to organize a fundraising campaign for him. However, Sun Yuzhi politely declined the school’s kind offer. “Most of the money for the treatment in Shandong came from community donations. How could I trouble the school again?” she said.
After returning to Wuhan, Sun Yuzhi continued to give her son the Chinese medicine prescribed by the hospital while also gathering herbs around the village with a shovel. For someone with only a middle school education, understanding the content of the Compendium of Materia Medica was challenging enough, let alone memorizing the appearance, names, and uses of the herbs.
Sun Yuzhi showed the reporter a well-worn copy of the Compendium of Materia Medica, explaining that she had memorized the names, properties, and shapes of over 40 herbs that could help her son’s condition. After working as a part-time cleaner at the Optics Valley Software Park, she would take care of him and go out to gather herbs on weekends.
Sun Yuzhi said that when she first started gathering herbs, she was always worried about making mistakes. She would taste the brewed herbs herself or take them to the provincial traditional Chinese medicine hospital for a doctor to check. Now, when she goes to the hospital to get medicine for her son, the doctors who know her often joke, “What herbs did you gather today?”
Meticulous care leads to improvement
Liu Xiaoying, a pediatrician at Hubei Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital who treated Xie Tian, said that treating pediatric nephrotic syndrome is a long process that requires a combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine and long-term care. The herbs that Sun Yuzhi gathered, like rhubarb and plantain, have heat-clearing, detoxifying, and diuretic effects, which can aid in the recovery from kidney disease.
In addition to treating her son, Sun Yuzhi often shared the herbs she gathered with her neighbors, who called her “Lady Doctor.” Under her careful care, Xie Tian’s condition gradually improved. His symptoms of blood in the urine and swelling completely disappeared, and he became more cheerful and optimistic. When school started in 2013, the little guy bravely went to school alone to register.
“I am very grateful to my mother. Without her, I might be unable to go to school,” Xie Tian said. He added that when he grows up, the first person he wants to repay is his mother.
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