On May 23, 2023, a heavy atmosphere filled the campus of Wuhan University of Geosciences, and Long Xingyu, a 24-year-old graduate student, who was once sunny and handsome, and a big boy who loved volleyball, left this world forever.
Two months ago, Long Xingyu was a promising graduate student, majoring in geological resources and geological engineering. However, a sprained knee in an ordinary volleyball game turned out to be the fuse that took his life.
When the doctor told Long Xingyu that he needed a custom stent of 1,000 yuan, the eldest boy from a poor family hesitated. He finally chose a simple bracket of more than 100 yuan, calculating in his heart that the cost saved could subsidize the family.
Unexpectedly, this seemingly trivial decision turned out to be the last straw that crushed his life.
Long Xingyu's departure shocked the entire campus. However, in the last moments of his life, the young man made a moving decision. His sister Long Jiajing recalled what her brother once said: "When a person dies, he is just a handful of loess, and I would rather donate my organs to let those in need live than just bury them in the ground."
Under the witness of the Hubei Red Cross, Long Xingyu's heart, liver, kidneys and cornea were donated free of charge, fulfilling his family's last wish
Long Xingyu's story is a profound lesson in love and responsibility, but it is also a tragic presentation of the fragility of life. It prompts us to think about whether we should be more courageous to ask for help when we are in trouble. And does our society have the responsibility to give more care and support to financially disadvantaged students like Long Xingyu?
The 24-year-old interprets the meaning and value of life in his own unique way, and his departure is both an end and a new beginning. Through organ donation, his life was able to continue in another way, and his spirit of great love will forever inspire us.
In 1998, a not-so-wealthy family in Longmen Village, Xintianpu Town, Xinshao County, Hunan Province, welcomed their eldest son, Long Xingyu. From an early age, he took on the responsibility of taking care of his two younger sisters, leaving a sunny, handsome and warm impression on his neighbors.
Many children said enviously: "Long Jiajing, can you let your brother also be my brother, I also want such a brother!" ”。
However, few people knew about the burden on Long Xingyu's shoulders. There are three children in the family, and he has to bear their school fees, which is a significant expense. My father was the only laborer in the family, and he went out early and returned late every day in order to support the family.
And his mother has no regular job and can only rely on odd jobs to subsidize the family at home, Long Xingyu always takes care of his two younger sisters as much as possible and is responsible for three meals a day.
Since he was a child, Long Xingyu has dreamed of growing up quickly, being able to work and make money, and share the pressure for his family. However, fate always seems to work against the family. One day, my mother suddenly received a phone call and couldn't stop crying.
It turned out that his father accidentally fell from a height on the construction site and fell into a coma on the spot, and Long Xingyu was holding his mother while pulling his two younger sisters to the hospital to wait for the results of the operation, which was the longest time for Long Xingyu.
Although the father saved his life, the doctor told them: "The patient has a serious injury to his leg and may be disabled afterwards." This news has made matters worse for families who are already not wealthy.
All the family's savings were depleted by the hospitalization bills, and the family was stuck in a dilemma of not being able to catch the next meal.
Just when Long Xingyu's family eased slightly, a greater misfortune occurred in 2018, when his mother went to the hospital for examination due to physical discomfort and was diagnosed with lung cancer, and the doctor told him that the treatment cost was as high as 300,000 yuan, and he needed to be admitted to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible.
This number is simply astronomical for Long Xingyu's family.
Faced with this predicament, Long Xingyu and his father exhausted all their savings, and even asked relatives for help, but they still could not relieve the suffering of their mother's illness. Whenever he saw his mother's painful appearance, Long Xingyu's heart was like a knife.
However, he can't fall, he has to be strong, he has to comfort his two sisters: "Mommy will be fine".
Since then, Long Xingyu has become the backbone of the family, when he was only 20 years old. He works part-time while going to school, and he also has to supervise his younger sisters to study. Although he suffered more than others, he never complained.
In front of his family, he is always the cheerful and optimistic big brother, teaching his sisters how to face life positively with practical actions.
This boy is tough and brave, he has grown up in hardship, but he has never lost his love for life and hope for the future. His experience is a microcosm of thousands of children from poor families, and it is also a vivid teaching material about resilience and responsibility.
Despite the difficult family conditions, Long Xingyu was finally admitted to the graduate school of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) in 2020 through his unremitting efforts, majoring in geological resources and geological engineering.
The news was like a ray of light that brought hope to this suffering family.
When Long Xingyu told his father the good news, his father's first reaction was not joy, but deep worry: "How much does it cost to go to graduate school?" I still have some money here, you don't have to work so hard! Facing his father who was on crutches, Long Xingyu held back his tears and comforted that he had a subsidy from the state, so he didn't have to worry about his father.
At this moment, his heart was full of joy and concern for his family.
Long Xingyu has entered the graduate stage, as if he has found a new beginning in life, and he knows that this may be the last chance to change the fate of his family. In school, Long Xingyu not only excelled in his studies, but also showed his versatile side, he joined the school's volleyball team, participated in many competitions and achieved good results.
This tall, sunny boy soon became the focus of attention on campus.
Long Xingyu's sunny and cheerful personality made him deeply loved by his classmates and teachers, and his diligence and intelligence won the appreciation of his tutors. His supervisor saw his potential and even suggested that he pursue a PhD, believing that his future was promising.
This proposition is an opportunity that any ordinary student cannot ask for.
However, Long Xingyu knew that the family still needed him to make money in order for the family to live a better life. He has a disabled father and two younger sisters who are in school, and they all expect him to take on the burden of the family.
Although his heart was full of contradictions and unwillingness, he could only refuse more because of his sense of responsibility to his family and in the face of his mentor's kindness.
In school, Long Xingyu never mentioned the difficulties at home to others. He is always smiling, actively involved in various activities, and looks like a carefree sunny boy.
However, only he knows that every late night, he worries about the future of his family.
Long Xingyu's study experience is a period of brilliant youth that blooms in adversity. He used his efforts to prove that even if he was born poor, he could change his fate through struggle. His story is not only a personal history of struggle, but also a microcosm of thousands of poor students.
It tells us that education is still the most powerful weapon to change destiny, and perseverance and hard work are always the key to realizing our dreams.
However, fate always seems to like to play tricks on hard-working people, and sometimes it will quietly change the trajectory of your life when you feel that everything has settled. Just when Long Xingyu was close to success, his life encountered an unexpected turning point, which completely changed the trajectory of his life.
One day in March 2023, Long Xingyu came to the volleyball hall as usual, and he used this exercise to release pressure. Maybe it's because of his inner reluctance, or just to relax, he plays very hard.
However, the turn of fate turned to the next - he suddenly sprained his knee and fell to the ground.
At first, Long Xingyu didn't take the sprain to heart. However, under the persuasion of his classmates, he had to reluctantly go to the hospital. After a detailed examination by the doctor, he told Long Xingyu solemnly: "Your knee injury is quite serious, and you need to use external fixation of knee brace for auxiliary treatment, and it costs about 1,000 yuan to customize a set of knee braces."
Hearing this price, Long Xingyu was shocked, because 1,000 yuan may not be anything for an ordinary family, but for him, it is almost equivalent to a month's living expenses.
His mind immediately conjured up the family's predicament: his disabled father, his two younger sisters who were going to school, and the outstanding loans.
After returning to the dormitory, Long Xingyu did some searching on the Internet and finally chose a simple bracket of more than 100 yuan. He thought to himself, "This looks like 1,000 yuan." In this way, he made this seemingly inconsequential decision, but in fact changed his life.
In the following days, Long Xingyu's calves gradually began to swell. He thought it was a normal reaction and didn't pay much attention to it. He endured the pain and continued to participate in school activities and complete his academic tasks.
Little did he know, however, that a deadly crisis was brewing inside him.
However, it wasn't until March 30 that a nightmare struck. Long Xingyu suddenly felt breathless, and then lost consciousness. His classmates rushed him to the hospital in a panic. After diagnosis, doctors gave heartbreaking results: he suffered from pulmonary embolism, which led to respiratory arrest in him.
In the next two months, Long Xingyu was hovering on the edge of life and death, and his classmates and teachers launched a fundraiser on the Internet, raising nearly 400,000 yuan in just a few days. However, this hard-won aid ultimately failed to save his young life.
On May 23, 2023, Long Xingyu was officially declared brain dead by doctors. This young man, who was only 24 years old, was supposed to be a star full of vitality, but quietly fell and left the people who loved him.
This small decision made Long Xingyu's life take a big turn, and finally became the end of his life. The life of a young man is over, and a hopeful family is once again plunged into despair.
This tragedy teaches us that we must not leave health problems to chance, and at the same time, it speaks to the cruel truth that in some extreme cases, poverty can be the killer.
After Long Xingyu was admitted to the hospital, the news quickly spread around the campus. His teachers and classmates couldn't accept that this hearty and sunny boy was dying because of a small knee sprain.
In this urgent moment, the school's teachers and students immediately took action and launched an online fundraising campaign.
This love quickly received a warm response from all walks of life. In just a few days, caring people raised nearly 400,000 yuan. This huge amount of money makes people feel cared for by the society.
However, this hard-won love is also deeply regrettable: if Long Xingyu had received such help earlier, perhaps such a tragedy would not have happened.
Despite this donation and two surgeries, Long Xingyu's condition still did not improve. He was always in the ICU, struggling to stay on a ventilator. However, it wasn't until May 23 that doctors announced the heartbreaking news: Long Xingyu was brain dead.
Faced with this bad news, Long Xingyu's family was grief-stricken. His two younger sisters lay in front of the hospital bed and wept bitterly, while his father remained silent, full of self-blame and remorse.
At this moment, my sister Long Jiajing suddenly remembered what her brother once said: "After death, people are just a handful of loess, and I am more willing to donate my organs than to bury them in the ground like that, so that people in need can live."
This sentence is like a ray of light, illuminating the grieving hearts of the family. After a night of deliberation, Long Xingyu's father made a difficult but great decision: to respect his son's last wish and donate his organs.
On May 24, under the witness of the Hubei Red Cross Society, Long Xingyu's father signed a consent form for human organ donation, and Long Xingyu's heart, liver, kidneys and corneas were all donated free of charge, saving the lives of four strangers.
In this way, Long Xingyu completed the last dedication in his own way at the last moment of his life. Although his departure was a tragedy, his great love remained in this world forever.
There has been widespread attention in the society about Long Xingyu's story, and people deeply regret what happened to Long Xingyu and deeply reflect on various reasons. People can't help but wonder why the price of a bracket is as high as 1,000 yuan, which has become the threshold of a person's life and death; However, a graduate student with excellent character and academic performance is unable to receive treatment and save his life due to financial reasons.
This tragedy sheds light on some of the problems that exist in our society, such as the gap between the rich and the poor and the inequality of educational resources, and reminds us that we should have the courage to seek help when faced with difficulties. At the same time, Long Xingyu's plight also calls on the society to pay more attention to the health problems of poor students and establish a better rescue mechanism to improve their living conditions.
This story is not just a tragedy, but a profound lesson in the value of life and social care. The story teaches us to cherish life and care for others, and provokes us to think about building a fairer and warmer society.
The passing of Long Xingyu has made us deeply aware of the fragility and preciousness of life. It reminds us that on the path of pursuing our dreams, everyone should have the courage to admit their weaknesses, dare to ask others for help, and not let preconceived notions become stumbling blocks to their growth.