The heartbreaking story of a father digging his two-year-old daughter’s grave has deeply moved the online community.
Zhang Liyong, a 24-year-old father from Jiuzu Yan village in Neijiang, Sichuan province, China, was seen digging a grave for his terminally ill daughter. He explained that he did this with the hope of helping his little girl gradually become accustomed to the idea of death, so it wouldn’t come as a complete shock if the worst happened.
Little Zhang Lei, just two years old, was diagnosed with congenital anemia when she was only two months old. Since then, the family has spent everything they had to fund her treatment, but their limited financial means couldn’t keep up with the rising medical costs. Each month, she requires blood transfusions to stay alive.
The family has already spent over 140,000 yuan (roughly 465 million VND), while Liyong’s income as a laborer is only 2,500 yuan (about 8.3 million VND) per month—nowhere near enough to continue paying for the necessary treatments, despite Lei’s declining health.
Because of her weakened immune system, Lei often gets sick and struggles with frequent infections. Sadly, the other children in the village avoid her, leaving her to play alone. At home, she often keeps herself entertained by playing with the family dog, talking to ducks, or quietly playing in the yard. In his spare time, Liyong tries to make her happy by taking her out to play or fish.
According to her mother, Deng Min, doctors said Lei’s best chance of survival is a stem cell transplant. However, neither parent is a match, so they decided to have another baby in the hopes that the new child’s stem cells might save Lei. Deng Min is expected to give birth on July 7th.
But even if a match is found, the procedure to preserve and transplant the stem cells would cost around 12,000 yuan (approximately 40 million VND), and the family has already exhausted their funds.
Crushed by despair and the overwhelming financial burden, Liyong decided to prepare for the worst by digging a grave for his daughter himself, to help her “get used to the cold earth.”
A photo of Liyong lying in the grave with his daughter quickly spread across Chinese social media, touching thousands. The story of the Zhang family went viral, prompting many online users to call for financial support to help cover Lei’s treatment costs.
Many netizens confessed to being moved to tears by the deep bond between father and daughter. Others shared that reading this story made them feel more grateful for their own families and inspired them to cherish their loved ones even more.
