Chinese student earns $20 a day as labourer -- to save 3-year-old brother with leukemia

For most of us, the biggest worry we faced as a student was probably exams and grades.

For 19-year-old Ma, however, it is to raise enough money for his younger brother's cancer treatment.

According to Hupu via World of Buzz, high school student Ma is from a poverty-stricken village in Hubei province, China.

Already in dire circumstances, the family were dealt an even bigger blow when Ma's three-year-old sibling was diagnosed with leukemia.

Instead of giving up, however, this only steeled Ma's resolve to study hard and become a doctor.

"I must enter a medical school, only then I have a chance of curing my brother," said Ma, who scored 465 marks in his final exam.

When he was done with all his exams, Ma went to a nearby construction site to find work as a labourer.

From carrying bricks to shoving sand, Ma toiled hard at his job -- earning 100 yuan (around S$20) a day.

As both his parents would be at work too, his 80-year-old grandma stayed at home to care for his ailing brother.

Fortunately, Ma's hard work paid off when local media picked up his heartbreaking story and it went viral online.

In just 24 hours, donations from the public poured in and 600,000 yuan& (around S121,000) was raised. This was just enough to cover the cost for the toddler’s bone marrow transplant.

Upon hearing the good news, Ma burst into tears at his worksite and said, "Finally, my little brother can be saved!"