Adopted parents spent life savings to give son a new face

Zhao Xuecheng, 22, was abandoned by his biological parents after his face was badly burned in an accident in 1994.

He was found under a bridge in Xiangyang, Central China's Hubei province, by Li Xianyu, a sanitation worker who had no children of her own.

Because he was found on a snowy day, Li and her husband named him Zhao Xuecheng, which means "happening in the snow".

They took him to a hospital but could not afford the high price of plastic surgery, so instead bought some medicine to heal his wounds themselves.

When he reached age 7, Zhao's foster parents tried to enroll him in a primary school, but he was rejected by all the local schools due to his disfigurement.

Because of this, he grew up home-schooled and when the time came to find a job, he found no one wanted to employ him either.

So Li, 68, and her husband decided to use their entire life savings to pay for their adopted son's surgery.

"We are getting old and he has to making a living by himself," Liu said. "All we can do now is use all our savings, 30,000 yuan ($4,350), to help him."

This month, the family arrived at Chongqing's Southwest Hospital affiliated to the Third Military Medical School. Their 30,000 yuan just about covered Zhao's first surgery after the hospital deducted some fees.

However, he will need to go under the knife again in six months and next time it is expected to cost more than 80,000 yuan.

To cover the cost, his parents reached out to the local media and have started to receive donations once Zhao's story was reported.