Xu Yuehua needs to support herself on a bench with her hands in order to walk. Xinhua News Agency release - The people of Xiangtan City Social Welfare Institute in Hunan Province, Xu Yuehua, works as an unpaid child-care worker outside the official roster.
According to Xinhua News Agency, at 12 years old she suffered from high-level paralysis and two small stools became her means of walking; at 17 years old, she was sent to the social welfare institute where she began a new life; now she is the "mother" of over 130 orphaned and disabled children, spreading great maternal love. For 37 years, she has always been self-reliant, optimistic, and helpful. Her story has become popular online and netizens affectionately call her "stool mom". She is a candidate for the third national moral model and a person supported by the Xiangtan City Social Welfare Institute in Hunan Province, Xu Yuehua.
Despite suffering from high-level paralysis, she still works as an unpaid child-care worker. In 1973, Xu Yuehua was sent to the Xiangtan City Social Welfare Institute. After living a "clothes handed to me, food served to me" lifestyle for half a month, she felt uncomfortable all over and asked the director if she could help take care of the children. Unable to refuse her, the director allowed Xu Yuehua, who was originally one of the people being supported, to become an unpaid child-care worker outside the official roster, becoming the "stool mom" of the welfare institute's children.
When the welfare institute picked up Shengli from under the wheels of a tractor, she was only a few months old. Shengli caught a bad cold which led to pneumonia and required special care. As the leaders were worrying about where to find manpower, Xu Yuehua said: "Give her to me!" and started hugging Shengli and soothing her.
Shengli suffers from cleft lip and palate, and the food fed to her would often immediately flow out of her nostrils. Xu Yuehua would hold her in her arms, slowly dripping medicine into her mouth using a spoon, and squeezing milk into her with a syringe, feeding her bit by bit until she grew up. After Shengli's cleft lip and palate surgery healed, she grew into a beautiful young woman, and has now married and had children. She tells everyone: "I am what I am today, all thanks to 'mom'."
She once took care of up to 15 "children" simultaneously.
One summer, an orphan named Xiangqiu was admitted to the hospital. The child kept having diarrhea, abdominal pain, and wouldn't stop crying, causing several child-care workers sent by the welfare institute to collapse from exhaustion. Xu Yuehua voluntarily requested to go to the hospital alone to take care of her.
During the day, Xu Yuehua held Xiangqiu in her arms while she received intravenous fluids. At night, she slept holding Xiangqiu in her arms. The child frequently had diarrhea, soiling her body, and she always first cleaned the child's body and changed her into clean clothes before soothing Xiangqiu to sleep and then cleaning herself. After 107 days, under her meticulous care and the hospital's efforts, Xiangqiu's health gradually recovered.
As the number of orphaned and disabled infants and toddlers increased in the welfare institute, the number of "children" that Xu Yuehua cared for also increased, reaching up to 15 simultaneously.
In 37 years, Xu Yuehua has raised 138 orphans. One batch of children left, and another batch came. Many of these children have now started families and established careers. When filling out their resumes, they all write the same name in the "mother" column: Xu Yuehua.
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