Cao Feng, a top student at Yuwang Secondary School, announced that she might never return to class because her parents are seriously ill. The story shows how a school community can unite when a family faces a health emergency.

According to the South China Morning Post, Cao Feng’s mother is in the ICU with generalized myasthenia gravis and a thymus tumor, and ICU treatment costs 10,000 yuan ($1,500) per day. Cao told her homeroom teacher that her father has liver cancer and works 12‑hour days driving a ride‑hailing car, while her older siblings are earning money.

Classmates poured their treasured items into a donation box. They gave coins, banknotes, sold an online gaming account, and handed over Ultraman cards, a sports star’s jersey, a singer’s album and a barely‑worn pair of shoes, all to be sold for Cao’s family.

Cui Miaomiao, the school’s head of student affairs, said the school has waived all of Cao’s fees, sent a hardship payment and received a national high‑school student grant for her, and will help her complete late registration for the gaokao. Teachers also lined the corridors chanting encouragement as she left the campus.

A video of her farewell posted on Douyin by creator Liangtian had attracted more than 12 million likes and 250,000 comments by Nov. 3, showing widespread public empathy. The episode illustrates how severe illness and financial pressure can inspire classmates and the wider public to give up prized belongings to support a peer in need.