Tearful father ‘not caring for own dignity’ begs food for sick teenage son on subway after hospital visit, touching Chinese social media

A father in China who took his 16-year-old son to seek medical treatment and tearfully begged for food from subway passengers for his boy who had not eaten for a day has received an outpouring of sympathy on mainland social media.

A video taken on August 14 on the subway in Hefei in eastern China’s Anhui province showed the father asking passengers if anyone could spare some food for his son, who has cerebral palsy and had not eaten anything for a whole day, news site Houlang Video reported.

A kind woman offers the upset father some grapes on the subway after he has begged other passengers for help in desperation. Photo: Baidu

The unidentified father was holding a white plastic bag with CT scan images and told the commuters they had been at a hospital for the entire day and had not had a chance to eat anything.

“I still need to feed him, and he can’t urinate or defecate by himself,” said the father in tears to the other passengers.

A woman standing nearby took a bunch of grapes from her bag and asked the father if the boy could eat them.

“Fine. Fine. Thank you!” answered the father as he wiped away tears and took the fruit from the woman.

The father then helped his son remove his face mask, peeled the grapes, and fed them to him.

The video attracted the attention of millions on mainland social media, with many people shocked by the father’s predicament.

“For the sake of his son, the father didn’t care about his own dignity,” one person commented.

The loving father feeds his disabled son the grapes after carefully peeling each one in the touching video. Photo: Baidu

“He clearly had no alternative; otherwise, he would not beg for food in public,” said another person in sympathy.

“A thumbs-up to this good father. Hope life can treat them well,” said another online observer.

Stories of people facing life difficulties and receiving help from strangers often trend online in China.

In February, a jobless man who could not pay his mobile phone bill had to call the police for help and was given support and comfort by a kind police officer.

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