Female student dies in poverty while saving money for mentally-ill brother

A Chinese student died of extreme malnutrition as she lived spending a minimal amount on her own food to save money for medical treatment of her mentally ill brother.

According to Chinese media reports, the 24-year-old Wu Huayan spends only two Chinese Yuan on her day meal that resulted in extreme malnutrition.

The student told in her interview with a local media outlet that she was the sole bread earner of the family comprising her and a mentally-ill brother, as her parents passed away as she reached the age of 18.

Wu said she received 300 yuan (£33) per month from the local government as welfare, but with that money, she also needed to cover part of her sibling’s medical bills. The girl only spent an impossible two yuan daily food budget, buying either two steam buns or two bowls of plain steamed rice in a day.

The girl noted a deterioration in her condition during the third year of her study at the Shenghua Vocational College in the city of Tongren and also remained admitted at the hospital. ‘I used to have plenty of hair. But in the third year of high school, my hair started to fall out in lumps, so did my eyebrows,’ Wu told media.

When the female student died, she only weighed just over 21 kilograms.

She was also suffering from heart-related diseases and an online campaign to raise funds for her was also initiated and garnered enough funds to treat her.