Liang Yaoyi was 11 years old when he realized he was not going to survive.
He lived in Shenzhen, China, and a brain tumor resisted every operation the doctors attempted. Instead of giving in to fear, he made his mother a request that few dare to make: he wanted to donate his organs so that others could go on living. Before he died, on June 6, 2014, he had said that he dreamed of becoming a doctor and that he wanted to become “a great child”, like those people he had seen doing good without expecting anything in return.
His kidneys and liver went to patients waiting for a transplant. His corneas were also donated. When his body left the operating room, something happened that no one had planned: the doctors bowed three times before him and his mother, as a sign of respect for the gift they had just received.
She covered her face to hold back her tears. An 11-year-old boy could not become a doctor, but he ended up saving lives anyway.
