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Teen attempts suicide to save dad

By Zhang Xin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-05 07:49

Brave heart Chen Jin is the name on everyone's lips at Wuxi People's Hospital.

The 13-year-old high school student has lain there silent since deliberately swallowing 200 sleeping pills in a misguided bid to save her ailing father on January 24.

Chen's mother, Cui Lan, a laid-off factory worker in her 40s, has been weeping too much to even talk on the phone, saddened by the prospect of losing not one but two of her family members.

In a shaky voice, she told of her daughter's heart-rending wish to replace her father's cancerous liver with her healthy one.

At the end of last year, doctors said Chen's dad had just a few months to live.

"Chen is my dearest daughter. She has been so understanding and concerned since her dad fell ill even though she is only 13. She loves her dad and she usually cooks porridge to bring it to his ward in hospital," Cui Lan said.

"When she waved goodbye to him and returned home on the afternoon of Jan 23, saying she will bring some porridge the next day, I didn't sense that something so silly was about to happen to her."

When Cui Lan arrived home the next day, she found the 13-year-old girl laying on her bed with two empty sleeping pill bottles at her side and a suicide note reading: "Mum, sorry about this but I cannot make your company any more - please take my liver to save dad's life."

Cui Lan rushed the teenager to hospital some 10 hours after she had swallowed the tablets.

"She loves her dad more than herself," Cui cried.

"Her dad and I have been in bad health and have resorted to sleeping pills, but our girl took down all of them attempting to end her life to save her dad."

Lu Zhenyan of Wuxi People's Hospital's intensive care unit said: "The girl has woken a couple of times and the first thing she asked was if her dad had been saved already."

Up until the story was published, Chen's dad was unaware of the bad news.

His treatment has already cost tens of thousands of yuan, a financial burden compounded by Chen's suicide bid.

"Chen's treatment is expected to total more than 100,000 yuan ($14,000)," Lu said.

Hospital staff and former colleagues of the couple have donated money to save Chen.

One of China's well-known news portal website sohu.com also published Jin's mother Cui Lan's bank account details to help seek more help.