Walk of Life

Some people walk to get fit. Others do it to get skinny. One mother in China did it to save her son’s life.

The Xinhua News Agency reports that 55-year-old Chen Yurong of central Hubei Province walked 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) every day for seven months and ate a diet of boiled vegetables and rice in order to get her liver in shape — so it could be transplanted to her son.

Her 31-year-old son has a condition called Wilson’s disease that causes the body to accumulate excess copper, which taxes the liver. When Chen first went to doctors saying she wanted to donate her liver, they said they couldn’t accept it because her liver’s fat content was too high.

That’s when Chen embarked on this mission to de-fat her liver. Over the following seven months, she walked a total of 2,000 km (over 1,200 miles) and lost almost 18 pounds.

Thanks to her heroic efforts, doctors were able to do the transplant. And because the story so captured the attention of the Chinese public, the hospital says it is waiving all the fees for the operation.

Photo courtesy Mescon via Flickr.