A man from Hebei Province decided to amputate his own leg after suffering from a rare disease that caused horrendous pain.
Zheng Yanliang, 47, developed severe pain in his abdomen last year, which then moved to his legs, preventing him from standing. He was eventually diagnosed with massive arterial thrombosis, and the arteries in his right leg disappeared completely.
He was told the disease is incurable and given one month to live. By this time he had spent all his savings.
The pain in his right leg became so unbearable during the following three months, that he decided to cut it off using a hacksaw and a fruit knife, while biting on a back-scratcher wrapped in a towel, according to Shijiazhuang News. He snapped off four molars in the process, but there was little bleeding from his leg due to blood clotting.
Zheng still wishes to be able to support his family, and is hoping the local community will help him buy a prosthetic limb.
Netizens expressed sympathy for Zheng, with some offering to make a donation to his cause. Others talked about the problems with the health system.
One said: “[The Communist Party] talks about health care reform every year. It has talked about it for over a decade. The result is that poor people still can’t afford to go to hospital. Health insurance is just a beautiful lie. As long as there is a seriously ill person in an ordinary family, their life will become penniless, and then worsen. Or they dare not go to hospital, but wait to die at home.”
Another commented: “Poor people live with no dignity in China. There is basically no social assistance or social welfare system. People can’t afford to rent a house or go to hospital. They get disdainful looks everywhere. It’s a nation with no faith, that only worships money.”
Research by Lisa Huang.
