Good Samaritan netizens have helped a Taichung roast yam vendor with terminal cancer by calling on others to buy from him.
The man, surnamed Chi (紀), 74, has terminal late-stage lung cancer, but continues to sell roast yams at the intersection of Taichung’s Nanjing East and Zihyou roads every day at 7am, the online news Web site ETToday reported.
Chi was quoted as saying that since cancer spread through his body, he has been limited to preparing and selling one pot of roast yams per day, which generates about NT$200 of income.
“Working out here means I can be independent; it is really not that bad, although I am short of breath, and my tongue often hurts or goes numb,” he said.
A netizen who learned of Chi’s story and publicized it on Good Sowing 365, a social media charity platform, has prompted a stream of well-wishers stopping by his cart, with patrons on Thursday last week lining up as early as 6:30am to ensure his yams would sell out.
Referring to the generous line of patrons, Chi said: “I am embarrassed that everyone got so busy just to help out a nobody like me.”
Chi said his three daughters are all married and live with their families outside of the city, which means they can only visit him during the Lunar New Year.
When asked why he continues to peddle yams in spite of his illness, Chi said being idle at home does not suit him and that he is proud to still be able to work for a living.
“I do not want to live off the public’s charity; that would hurt my pride,” he was quoted by ETToday as saying.
“While it is good for me that they line up like this, I am afraid I cannot do right by all of them,” he said, referring to having more customers than yams.
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