As of October 30, Wu Xiaoqiang, a 31-year-old senior high school politics teacher at Wei County No. 5 Middle School in Handan, Hebei Province, had spent an entire month in the intensive care unit of Handan First Hospital.
In the early hours of October 1, he collapsed in the bathroom of his home and was diagnosed with a cerebral hemorrhage.
Over the following 30 days, he underwent a craniotomy lasting approximately 10 hours; he can now open his eyes but cannot speak, and he has still not passed the critical period, "running a fever almost every day." Meanwhile, on the other side of the hospital, a relay of strangers on the Waterdrop Inc. (NYSE: WDH) platform had been ongoing for 20 days.
The bathroom light stayed on, but he never came out
Late at night on September 30, Wu Xiaoqiang got up to use the bathroom. At around 1 a.m. the next day, his mother noticed the bathroom light was still on but he had not come out for a long time. When she went in, she found him lying on the floor. "He could still speak at that point, but his words were slurred. We thought it was a cerebral infarction," recalled his younger sister, Wu Xueqing. The county hospital's examination results overturned that assumption 鈥?cerebral hemorrhage. That same night, Wu Xiaoqiang was transferred to Handan First Hospital and admitted directly to the ICU.
In the early stage of admission, conservative treatment was adopted and his condition was once stable. The turning point came on October 2: examinations showed severe brain edema, and doctors drained 10 milliliters of accumulated blood, while another 20 milliliters had already clotted into a blood mass. At 11 p.m. that night, doctors informed the family that the situation was critical 鈥?the bleeding volume had increased to 65 milliliters and his pupils had dilated.
What followed was a craniotomy lasting approximately 10 hours. After surgery, doctors told the family that Wu Xiaoqiang had a cerebrovascular malformation, which may have been related to years of high blood pressure causing thin and fragile blood vessels. In the three to four days after surgery, his pupils gradually recovered and spontaneous breathing slowly returned; during visits, he could move his thumb and little finger on command. But as of press time, he remains in the ICU and has not yet passed the critical period. According to his family, the ICU costs about 10,000 yuan per day.
A family already stretched thin falls even deeper into hardship
Wu Xiaoqiang graduated from university in June 2018. To make it easier to care for his family, he chose to teach at Wei County No. 5 Middle School, just over ten minutes away by electric bike, and later took charge of senior high school politics. The burden on this family has always been heavy: eight years ago, his father became unable to care for himself after suffering heatstroke while working, and cannot be left alone; his mother farms and has undergone multiple surgeries, leaving her in poor health as well. Now the heavy responsibility of caring for the whole family and accompanying him in the hospital has fallen on his younger sister, Wu Xueqing.
But those who knew him remember another side of him. He used the same mobile phone for about ten years without replacing it and lived frugally, yet he bought a small loudspeaker at his own expense so students in the back rows could hear him clearly, and he also paid out of his own pocket to buy a printer for his students. "The teacher was really great. His politics classes were very interesting, and his handwriting was beautiful too." Many people around him publicly verified Teacher Wu's appeal on Waterdrop Inc. (NYSE: WDH).
Because of the heavy family burden, on October 10, with the assistance of a Waterdrop Inc. (NYSE: WDH) advisor, the family launched a fundraising appeal. So far, more than 300,000 yuan has been raised, with 14,000 kind-hearted people participating in sharing it. "At first we thought the main people who could help would be relatives, friends, and colleagues," Wu Xueqing said. "Only after seeing the backend did we realize that the vast majority of people we don't know at all."
The starting point of this chain of dissemination was students' spontaneous sharing. After the appeal spread online, more and more people who had previously had no connection with Wu Xiaoqiang joined in.
At noon on October 29, singer Wu Kequn posted a video saying: "Students of Teacher Wu Xiaoqiang, we have all heard you speaking with all your strength for Teacher Wu. Good people should not lose. A good teacher who gave all his tenderness to his students should not be defeated by illness, should not fall like this... I will also lend a hand and contribute 100,000 yuan for Teacher Wu's medical expenses. I hope Teacher Wu keeps fighting, and I hope even more that you can return to the podium very soon, because all your students are waiting for you."
It is understood that among all donations, strangers accounted for as much as 94%. Seeing the articles students wrote for her brother, Wu Xueqing said she was "very moved and cried while reading them." Regarding the help from Wu Kequn and the vast number of netizens, she repeatedly expressed her thanks, and the rescue efforts are still continuing. Teacher Wu's relatives have rented a house near the hospital; his father is cared for by his mother, and the family takes turns accompanying him.
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