After being burned while fighting a fire, she said "I've caused trouble" and bit through over ten pairs of chopsticks in agony. Mother Wei Baohua couldn't bear to approach her daughter and cried from the side, saying, "If I had taken her with us that day, this wouldn't have happened."
"Mom, who are you borrowing money from again?"
Seeing her daughter's legs burned jet black, unable to distinguish between skin and pants, Wei Baohua said she didn't dare to look, and collapsed on the ground sobbing uncontrollably.
During her hospitalization in Hebei, her mother went home twice to raise funds, and upon knowing this, Li Pei said, "Take me out of the hospital." Every time her mother received a text or call, Li Pei would ask, "Mom, who are you borrowing money from again?"
[Donation Account] Weibo Recommendation | Today's Weibo Hot Topics (Editor: SN056)
Dream Realization Special Fund - Burn Treatment for Li Pei, Bank: Hebei Bank Demonstration Street Branch. Organization Name: Hebei Provincial Youth Development Foundation. Account Number: 01521900000205. Donations must be marked for Li Pei.
Yesterday, Li Pei’s attending doctor at the Air Force General Hospital, Zou Xiaofang, said that Li Pei is currently in a stable phase despite being in danger. In about 7 to 10 days, they will perform a skin graft surgery on her.
In the intensive care unit of the burn and plastic surgery department at the Air Force General Hospital in Beijing yesterday afternoon, Li Pei was lying face down on the bed after a bath, with a blue tube inserted into her nose. Her abdomen downwards was all bandaged, blood seeping from the wounds on her waist, and her small blackened feet were exposed outside. Her father dried the medication on her wounds, and her right hand hanging off the edge of the bed trembled continuously.
Wei Baohua said that some children saw smoke rising from a patch of wild grass not far south of the village. Being the oldest at 11 years old, Li Pei ran over to fight the fire. Later, Li Pei told her mother, "When I ran over, the fire wasn't big, so I thought I could step on it to put it out." But her shoelaces caught fire, quickly spreading to her cotton pants.
Wei Baohua said that relatives and friends who could lend money for her daughter's treatment already have. Fortunately, the Baoding City Love Volunteer Alliance helped set up a donation account for Li Pei under the Hebei Provincial Youth Development Foundation, raising 470,000 yuan, and many kind-hearted people donated independently. The attending doctor Zou Xiaofang introduced that from the current situation, Li Pei needs at least three to four surgeries, estimated to still lack around 200,000 yuan in medical expenses. Moreover, both of Li Pei's Achilles tendons are completely dead, which will affect her ability to walk.
Due to her father working long-term away from home and her mother working at a local shoe pad factory, Li Pei has been helping her mother take care of her 5-year-old younger brother and taking on many household chores. Wei Baohua said that during the cold winter days, before she returned home from work, Li Pei always heated up the kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove) first and boiled a pot of hot water.
Medical fees are still short by 200,000 yuan.
"A few children hurriedly beat the fire with their hands, and it took a long time for the fire to be extinguished," Wei Baohua said. When her daughter saw her parents for the first time, her first words were, "Dad and Mom, I'm sorry, I've caused trouble."
Wei Baohua said that to avoid worrying her grandmother, they only mentioned Li Pei's treatment without revealing the severity of her condition. During this year's Spring Festival, Li Pei called her grandmother and said, "Grandma, I'm sorry. Because of me, the whole family can't reunite."
Yesterday, Li Pei's family dried the medication on her wounds. Photo by reporter Sun Chunxia.
Seeing visitors come, she tilted her head and greeted them, "Auntie, hello."
Wei Baohua took out a photo of her daughter taken a few days before the incident. In the photo, her daughter smiled happily. "I don't know if my daughter can smile this way again in the future," Wei Baohua said.
Wei Baohua said that her daughter was very sensible.
Wei Baohua said that during previous treatments, medicine had to be sprayed every one or two hours, and turning over was necessary to prevent infection, along with bathing and cleaning wounds with medicine water. Spraying medicine for disinfection was the most painful moment, each time the child clenched her fists in pain. During her stay in the hospital in Baoding, no matter how much pain Li Pei endured, she remained silent, biting chopsticks instead. Each time, deep tooth marks were left on the chopsticks, and her mother would break off the bitten parts to continue using the remaining chopsticks. To endure the pain, Li Pei bit through more than ten pairs of chopsticks.
On the afternoon of January 15th, Wei Baohua and her husband went to visit relatives with their 5-year-old son, leaving Li Pei and her grandmother at home. After finishing her homework, Li Pei went out to play with a few other children.
According to reports (reporter Fan Chunxu), on January 15th, a grassy area on the southern mountain of Xiheshan Village in Beishan Town, Yixian County, Baoding City caught fire. An 11-year-old girl from the village, Li Pei, suffered burns while fighting the fire, resulting in third-degree burns below her abdomen. Recently, Li Pei has been transferred to the Air Force General Hospital in Beijing (Weibo) for treatment, but there is still a shortfall of approximately 200,000 yuan for the surgery fees.
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