A family with two members suffering from deadly diseases made a tough decision to use a kidney from a dying 7-year-old boy to save his mother, Chutian Metropolis Daily reported on Wednesday.

The family in Jingzhou, Hubei province, faces the double misfortune of the 34-year-old mother suffering double kidney failure and needing a transplant, and the 7-year-old boy dying of a malignant brain tumor.

Zhou Lu, the mother, was diagnosed with kidney disease in November 2011 and six months later her son Chen Xiaotian was diagnosed with brain cancer.

The son received an operation immediately after his diagnosis, but the cancer spread to his entire brain the following year. The mother's disease also worsened and she needs a transplant as soon as possible.

Doctors in a hospital treating the two said the son cannot be cured and he is going to die in the near future.

The family then made the decision to use one of the boy's kidneys to save his mother after he dies as his blood matches that of his mother, and Zhou finally agreed after refusing many times.

The family also decided to donate the boy's other kidney and liver for two other patients.

Currently, the boy is in a shallow coma.

Luo Gangqiang, director of the organ donation office under the Red Cross of Wuhan, the capital of the province, said such donations between relatives with the agreement of the family are legal, and donation by a minor can be decided by his or her parents or guardians.