Boy, 15, dies after accident; corneas donated

A critically injured boy who was sent from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to Beijing in October for urgent treatment — with the public helping to clear traffic from expressways — died on Tuesday.

The boy’s parents donated his corneas in honor of the boy’s dream of becoming a doctor to help others, his mother confirmed on Thursday.

Yuze, 13, died of multiple organ failure, Beijing Tiantan Hospital said on Thursday. The boy was treated there after being transferred from a hospital in Inner Mongolia on Oct 16.

“The hospital spared no effort to treat the boy, who had traumatic brain injuries, but there was no improvement from beginning to end,” it said.

Yuze, a second-year middle school student at Beijing Normal University Experimental School, was on his way to Inner Mongolia on Oct 3 for a vacation with his father, grandmother and aunt when their car struck something on the road that the father said looked like a tire. That caused their car to break down and the four of them got out. Suddenly another car struck the same item and flipped over, landing on the family. Yuze was seriously injured, and his grandmother and aunt were killed.

He was treated for multiple fractures and brain injuries at Inner Mongolia People’s Hospital in Hohhot.

The boy’s story caught the attention of the public when he was transferred to Beijing.

On Oct 15, a WeChat post titled “Relay for Life” went viral. It included the license plate numbers of the ambulance carrying the boy and two other vehicles in the convoy, as well as their departure time and driving route, and called on surrounding vehicles to give way to them.

Traffic police from Inner Mongolia, Hebei province and Beijing coordinated a special route and broadcast the message through various traffic radio stations, which allowed them to get to Beijing Tiantan Hospital about two and a half hours earlier than expected.

The boy liked watching US cartoons and aspired to be a hero. Even at a young age he was eager to help others, his mother told China Daily.

“He wanted to become a doctor who could treat others’ diseases and bring kindness to the whole world,” she said.

“So, we want to extend his feelings to the world by donating his corneas. We have contacted a hospital in Beijing and Yuze must be happy with that.”