Zoo staff collect coins from the wishing pool to donate to a leukemia patient at Nantong Forest Safari Park in East China's Jiangsu Province. Photo: official WeChat account of Yangtse Evening Post.

A wildlife park in East China's Jiangsu Province donated coins from its wishing pool to a young mother battling leukemia after the woman originally contacted the zoo to request a refund for her annual membership card to help with her medical costs, the Yangtse Evening Post reported on Monday. 

Liu, a woman from Nantong, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) on May 7 and transferred to a hospital in Suzhou the next day for emergency treatment. Soon after, she was admitted to the ICU due to severe lung infection and repeated bleeding, with medical bills quickly exceeding 100,000 yuan ($14,700).

After recovering from the ICU, Liu contacted Nantong Forest Safari Park hoping to get a refund for her annual membership card to help ease the financial burden of future treatment. Instead, the zoo decided not only to provide a full refund, but also to donate all coins collected from the park's wishing pool, along with additional financial support.

Staff members later emptied and counted the coins one by one, collecting a total of 4,361 yuan. Together with an extra donation of 10,000 yuan ($1,470) from the zoo, 14,361 yuan ($2,100) was transferred to Liu's bank account.

"I only wanted to refund my annual pass, but I never expected them to give me all this kindness," Liu said emotionally in a phone interview. "They turned all the wishes in the wishing pool into hope for me."

Many netizens also left warm comments. One commenter said the zoo had "truly fulfilled the purpose of a wishing pool," while another said the move had "maximized the value of kindness and compassion."


Global Times