Seven-year-old takes care of paralyzed father

A seven-year-old schoolboy in southwest China’s Guizhou Province has been taking care of his paralyzed father since last year.

Ou Yanglin’s childhood took a tragic turn in the summer of 2013, when his father fell down from the second floor of their house, which was under construction. A spinal cord injury resulted in Ou Tongming becoming paralyzed from the waist down, with subsequent treatments sapping the family’s savings.

Unable to cope with the situation, his wife left with the couple’s three-year-old daughter last year, never to be heard from again. Ou Yanglin has since then nursed his sick father, while continuing his education.

Each morning at 6 am, Ou Yanglin gets up to prepare food, ensuring that his father eats breakfast before he can get to school. After having lunch at school, he returns to feed his father with his own hands, just as Ou Tongming had once fed him.

Unlike other children of his age, Ou doesn’t have the luxury of playtime. After classes, he spends his time searching around the school for scrap that can be exchanged money.

“My father needs medicine, but I don’t have any money,” the boy told, reported by China Youth Daily.

With the day’s search over, he returns home to help apply medicine oil on his father’s back and buttocks, where an ulcerated bedsore has spread to his pelvic cavity.

Filled with remorse, Ou Tongming has often thought of committing suicide to end the pain. But at each time, the thought of leaving little Ou Yanglin orphaned has forced him to reconsider.

“I can’t live without my father,” Ou Yanglin says - that’s what keeps them both going.