WOMAN MARRIED CANCER PATIENT FOR A KIDNEY AND FELL IN LOVE

A 24-year-old woman in China’s Shaanxi province with failing kidneys married a man with recurrent cancer under a kidney donation deal: she would care for him, and his kidney would go to her after he died. NDTV reported that the contract marriage turned into the real thing.

Wang Xiao had been diagnosed with uremia. Doctors told her she had roughly a year to live without a transplant, and none of her relatives was a match.

So she took an unusual route. She posted a marriage advertisement in a cancer-patient support group, looking for a terminally ill man whose kidney she could receive after his death. NDTV quoted the ad: “I will take the best care of you after marriage. Please forgive me; I just want to live.”

Yu Zhenping, 27, answered. He had recurrent cancer and his blood type matched hers. EtIndonesia reported that his cancer was myeloma and that it had relapsed several times. A post on X quoted him telling her, “I can marry you.”

The terms were simple. Wang would provide long-term care and support, and Yu’s kidney would be donated to her when he died. EtIndonesia reported that they agreed to keep the marriage secret and manage their money separately, and that Wang also promised to look after Yu’s father once Yu was gone. Sports Chosun reported they registered the marriage in July 2013.

The deal stopped feeling like a deal

Wang held up her end, and then some. She stood by Yu through his treatment and sold handmade bouquets to raise money for him. Sports Chosun reported that she brought in 500,000 yuan for his surgery expenses.

Somewhere in all that time together, the arrangement quit being one. NDTV reported that the two gradually developed a genuine relationship.

By June 2014, Yu’s condition had stabilized and Wang was doing better too. EtIndonesia reported that her dialysis dropped to once a month and that doctors said she might not need a transplant at all. Sports Chosun put the change as a drop from twice a week to once a month.

Yu then proposed love in place of the original contract. On February 14, 2015, the couple held a wedding in Xi’an, yibingsg wrote on X.

The case was originally reported by the mainland magazine Marriage and Family, according to the South China Morning Post. Their story was later adapted into the 2024 film Viva La Vida, which Sports Chosun said earned 276 million yuan in China.

When the story resurfaced online, NDTV said it was hailed as “a powerful mix of desperation, altruism and hope,” while also raising ethical questions about medical arrangements, organ donation and marriage. One online user, quoted by Moneycontrol, put it more simply: “A marriage born from desperation turned into a miracle of love.”

The couple later ran a flower shop in Xi’an and were living a steady, healthy life, EtIndonesia reported.