Frostbite brings father home

Seeing his severely frostbitten son in hospital, Wang Jinsheng vowed to return to his hometown and care for him personally in the future.

"I have decided to come back home and will not leave my son," said the 41-year-old, whose boy, Wang Yi, is suffering from third-degree frostbite to his left hand.

The 8-year-old sustained the injury on a long walk through freezing temperatures to catch a school bus on Jan 3.

He has been living with his grandparents in Yilan county, North China's Heilongjiang province, since his parents divorced in 2011.

His mother left home when he was just 5 years old, and he cannot remember her. Since then, Wang Jinsheng has worked away from his hometown all year round, returning occasionally to see his son and parents.

He was working in Hefei, capital of Anhui province, which is about 22 hours by train, when the accident occurred, and rushed back to Heilongjiang to be with his son.

"I felt so sorry that I didn't look after him. If I had been at home and was able to take him to school, this accident would never have happened," Wang said.

The tragedy happened after the boy set out on foot from the village of Huanxi to catch the bus to Jiangwan Primary School in Yilan, about 10 kilometers away.

Because roads were blocked with snow, the boy had to walk 3 km through the freezing weather.

He was accompanied on the first part of the journey by his grandfather. However, because of the icy conditions, the grandfather, who suffers from hemiplegia, was unable to walk far on the slippery road and fell several times.

The boy began to worry about his grandfather's safety and told him to go back home, insisting that he could walk the rest of the way alone and catch the bus by himself.

At the boy's insistence, the old man asked his neighbors to take care of him and went back home.

"The neighbors told me that Wang Yi walked faster than their children and disappeared from their sight after a while," said Wang Chunhua, the boy's aunt. "When they found him, he was in the snow and his left hand had hardened because of the extreme cold."

The boy was taken to the People's Hospital of Yilan County and then transferred to the Fifth Hospital of Harbin at midnight on Jan 3 due to the seriousness of his injury.

"His left hand suffered third-degree frostbite after being exposed in extreme cold weather for more than an hour," said Yang Yuzi, the boy's doctor.

"We are giving him conservative treatments, which can help enlarge blood vessels and improve blood circulation. If the hand doesn't recover within 10 days, I'm afraid he will have to undergo an amputation."

Wang Yi said: "Most of my schoolmates are taken care of by their parents. I miss my father, but I can only live with him for less than three months every year.

"I miss my grandparents and I hope I can live with my father in the future."

Asked about his mother, he said that he could not remember her. "When his mother left, he was only 5 years old," Wang Jinsheng said. "He hasn't seen her since then. That's why he has no memories of her."

The whole family is supported by Wang Jinsheng's meager income of about 20,000 yuan (2,420 euros, $3,304) a year.

Many members of the public have visited the boy, bringing gifts of food, clothes, food and money.

"The cost of Wang Yi's treatment will be borne by Yilan government," said an official from Yilan Civil Affairs Bureau, according to a media report.

Local media reported on Jan 12 that the injured boy was in a good condition after one week's treatment, and it was hoped he could keep his left hand, the boy's doctor said.

zhouhuiying@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/17/2014 page25)