In the midst of the epidemic caused by the novel coronavirus that stemmed from Wuhan, many Wuhan residents have been quarantined for fear that they have contracted the disease. The whole city is currently in lockdown, and as of now, almost 10,000 people have been confirmed to be infected.
They have been isolated so that medical professionals can monitor their condition and take the necessary measures to ensure that the virus is contained. However, the quarantine of a father and son has led to the tragic passing of the father’s older son. Here’s what happened.
Relatives Suspected Of Having The Coronavirus
49-year-old Yan Xiaowen travelled with his 17-year-old son who suffered from cerebral palsy and his 11-year-old autistic son from Wuhan on 17 January to celebrate Chinese New Year (CNY) in their ancestral village in Huahe township, Hongan county. This was approximately 150km from the central Chinese city where the outbreak was first reported at.
However, the father developed a fever three days later and was forced to be quarantined by authorities at a treatment facility along with his 11-year-old son on Friday. This meant that Cheng was left alone at home without the usual supervision that he was always given.
As any father would be, Yan was anxious and worried that Cheng wasn’t getting proper care from the local Communist Party officials who were entrusted with his welfare, so he took it in his own hands to seek help from the public on Weibo on Tuesday.
According to AsiaOne, he wrote in his post:
“I have two disabled sons. My older son Yan Cheng has cerebral palsy. He cannot move his body, he cannot speak or look after himself. He has already been at home by himself for six days, with nobody to bathe him or change his clothes and nothing to eat or drink. The government and hospitals don’t have any protective clothing to spare. I fear that my child will soon die. Please everybody, help send some protective suits to Yanjia village in Huahe township, Hongan county, Hubei province!”
He also attached a few photos of him and Cheng, along with his own medical treatment information, his Chinese identity card and a screenshot of his call log which showed 10 calls between him and the village party secretary on Tuesday alone.
However, he has since deleted his post.
It is sad because Cheng clearly needed around-the-clock care, but wasn’t able to receive it. When asked about his mother, it was revealed that she had reportedly committed suicide a year after her younger son was born.
5 Meals In 6 Days
Yan wrote in another post sharing that he was infected with the Wuhan virus, and was told by the village party officials that his son was fed only two meals between Friday and Tuesday, a six-day period.
According to a Damihexiaomi report, a WeChat platform that primarily campaigns for families of children with autism and other conditions, his son was fed three times and changed twice over that time period by his aunt. She wanted to visit him more often, but couldn’t because of her own illnesses. She last saw Cheng on Tuesday, but shared that she could tell his condition was worsening rapidly by then.
She said, “He was lying on a lounge chair but his head was hanging. His face and mouth were dirty, as well as his duvet. I washed his face and mouth with boiled water, changed his underclothes, and fed him some water and a small half-cup of rice, but he couldn’t eat any more.”
Yan was then told that they were planning to move him and Cheng to a hotel to be quarantined on Wednesday so that he could care for his son himself, however, it was too late, because the teen passed away that afternoon.
Seeking Justice For His Son’s Death
Yan sought help from an Wuhan disability charity, which then brought this matter up to the Hubei Disabled Person’s Federation, a branch of China’s state organisation for the disabled.
According to Beijing Youth Daily, a Huahe township employee disclosed that Hongan county had set up an inquiry into the teen’s death. The employee said, “Now, the oversight (monitoring) of cadres is very strict, there is no way we could have left a boy with cerebral palsy at home with nobody looking after him. We have, of course, done our work, but the fact is that he had died, higher authorities are investigating and they will naturally have a fair and just response.”
It is absolutely devastating for Cheng to have suffered that way before he passed. We send our deepest condolences to the Yan family and hope that they can recover soon from the coronavirus and seek the justice that they deserve.
