The boy survived thanks to a homemade breathing aid

The squeezes of loved ones and homemade homemade breathing aids help a paralyzed youth in China maintain life.

Fu Xuepeng is a young man living in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. In 2008, when Xuepeng was 25 years old, a car hit him when he drove a motorbike to the supermarket. The accident caused severe damage to the boy's nervous system. He was paralyzed from the neck down and lost the ability to breathe, china.org.cn reported.

Xuepeng's father and mother had to take him to the Taizhou People's Hospital in the city so he could breathe normally through a breathing aid. Xuepeng's cost of breathing in each week amounted to 10,000 yuan, while the driver caused an accident of 300,000 yuan. Therefore, after 4 months, Xuepeng's parents spent all the compensation. Due to being too poor, they could not let Xuepeng continue treatment at the hospital but take him home to care.

Ms. Wang Lanqin, Fu Xuepeng's mother, with her husband, two daughters and two son-in-law
take turns squeezing the balloon to bring oxygen into your child's windpipe. (Photo: Barcroft Media)

Mr. Fu Minzu and Ms. Wang Lanqin bought a balloon to help breathing. They have to squeeze the real ball regularly 18 times per minute to bring oxygen into Xuepeng's body. If the rhythm of the ball is uneven, his breathing activity will be disordered. Father, mother, two sisters, two brothers-in-law took turns squeezing Xuepeng's ball during the past few years. Their hands are deformed because of the hard work. They were only allowed to rest in the evening, when the ventilator was built and operated by Xuepeng's younger brother.

Xuepeng's younger brother built the machine in 2009 after watching how to assemble it on television. Its main parts include electric motors, speed regulators, plastic balls, pushers. When the engine starts, the pusher will squeeze into the plastic ball smoothly thanks to the speed regulator. But because the machine "consumes" quite a lot of electricity, they only dare to use it in the evening to save costs.

Xuepeng's situation changed after a breathing aid maker found a blog about him on the Internet. The company wanted to give him a modern breathing aid. Many philanthropists set up a charity to support him financially. Local officials and doctors at a hospital will also visit him at his home.