Adopted man's search for biological parents ends in cancer treatment hope

A 33-year-old adopted man in Linyi, Shandong province, has found his biological parents in Sichuan province after being diagnosed with cancer.

Zhao Xiujun was diagnosed with papillary thyroid carcinoma, a type of thyroid cancer, in May last year. His health deteriorated despite ongoing treatment. In November of last year, Zhao was hospitalized due to low immunity. That was when he found out that he was adopted and his current parents are not his biological parents.

During treatment, a doctor at Shandong Second Provincial General Hospital told Zhao that there was a treatment for his disease that required blood from his parents to grow immunity cells to the cancer. There is a 50 percent chance that the treatment could cure Zhao's disease.

Zhao then embarked on a journey to find his birth parents. Since the adoption was decades ago, his parents could not provide much information about his biological parents except that his birth father's surname is Zhou and he was adopted in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Zhao tried to find his parents through livestreaming, hoping that his biological parents or relatives might recognize him. He was even questioned for profiteering through his disease, but he continued to broadcast his information whenever he had time.

Zhao also signed up for "Operation Reunion", an operation launched by the Ministry of Public Security in 2020 to recover abducted and missing children. His blood sample and DNA were collected.

After learning about Zhao's situation, volunteers began setting up WeChat groups to help find his biological parents. People from all over the country joined the groups to help.

Finally, on Sunday, Zhao was informed by police officer Hu Xiangyu of the public security bureau of Mianyang city in Sichuan province that his parents had been found through DNA matching.

Zhao's biological father has agreed to donate his blood for the treatment. Zhao is scheduled to reunite with his parents in Mianyang on Sept 13.